Lead and Silver
by KhaosMaster
Summary: Newly-minted detectives Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde are living the dream. Great friendship, nice co-workers, and a wonderful city to protect. But their first case may be their most deadly yet. Predator gangs are being sold military grade weapons and explosives by an unknown source, and the escalating violence is threatening to tear the city apart. Also available on AO3.
1. Calm

The sun hung in the sky over Savannah Central, home to Precinct One. It was a day like any other day, for most mammals anyway. For a particular fox and rabbit, it was a very special day indeed. The duo strolled into the precinct, the bunny eagerly hopping in front of the fox, who sipped from a cup of coffee and regarded her from behind a pair of mirrored aviator shades.

"Last Day on patrol, Carrots," he reminded her as they walked into the station, him sipping a coffee.

"I know!" She smiled, bouncing through the door. "Then we make Detectives! This is so exciting!"

"Calm it Fluff, we still have to survive. Okay?" He finished off the cup of coffee and threw it into the trash. He walked over to Clawhauser's desk and snatched a donut when he wasn't looking, following behind Judy on their way to the Bullpen. As he walked, he took a moment, or ten, to make sure her fluffy cottontail was still present. He had to make sure some miscreant hadn't shaved it off in her sleep! _'Still there.'_

He took a seat in the same chair as Judy and smiled up at Bogo, smirking confidently as he handed out reports for them. They were given Patrol in Savannah Central. A nice, easy way to close out a successful career as beat cops. Not that Bogo would ever admit that. He didn't care, of course.

They got in their cruiser and rolled out, Zootiopa's premier (and only) bunny and fox duo in action! Nick remained laidback while Judy could barely contain her excitement.

"Fluff, would you calm down a little bit?" He asked. "You're making me tired and I'm not even doing anything."

"How can you not be more excited? We're going to be detectives after today!"

"Unless we die," he joked, peering at her over the rims of his sunglasses.

"We're not going to die, Nick."

"Day's not over yet, Carrots. Day's not over yet."

She laughed at that and went back to driving.

* * *

Fortunately for them, it was a pretty boring patrol for the most part. Quiet, mostly just tickets and the like. But it got a little exciting towards the end when they caught Duke Weaselton. He was selling pirated movies off of a table in a back alley.

"Hey Duke," Grinned Nick as they approached him.

Duke wasted no time and flipped the table at them and bolted, forcing them to chase him down. He was a slippery bastard, but they finally cornered him.

"See Duke, it's out last day on the beat, and we were feeling nice," began Nick. "Nice enough that if you pack up and don't get caught again, we'll give you a break and only make you pay a fine, okay?" He offered.

Duke nodded furiously and bolted, trying to get back to his precious counterfeit blu rays before they were all snatched up.

"Have fun Duke! Stay FROSTY!" Called Judy as he sprinted away.

"Carrots, who knew you had that kind of spark in you?" He teased, a tad surprised at the barb.

"I guess you're rubbing off on me." She smirked, making his ears shoot straight up at the mental image that conjured up. Not that she noticed.

"So this horrible, evil fox has finally brought the incorruptible Judy Hopps down to his level?" He teased back. "This city is doomed!" He cried dramatically, dropping to his knees and throwing his arms ide into the sky.

Judy rolled her eyes. "Come on, Slick. Day's almost over. Let's head back to the precinct?" She offered.

"Yeah okay," he instantly switched gears back to his normal, cocky self. He stood up and walked back to the car with her. They headed back to the car. "Well, this is it Fluff, the end of an era," he mused as they drove back. Tomorrow, the days of Officer's Hopps and Wilde are over, and we shall greet the dawn of Detectives Hopps and Wilde. You ready?"

"I was ready when you were still in diapers!" She challenged.

"You weren't even born when I was in diapers!" He retorted.

"Exactly! I've been ready since before I was even conceived!" She grinned at him, unwilling to back down from this.

"Fair enough. I suppose it'll be interesting to see you in a suit," he remarked. In the almost three years he had known her he had never seen her in something like that, she usually wore dresses to formal occasions, and her casual wear was jeans and tee shirts, or sweatpants when they were just hanging out at one of their apartments.

Judy stared out into the distance before slamming the breaks. "CRAP!" She screamed. That was unusual, she never actually swore, not unless she was really upset. Given what he had said, it wasn't hard to figure out what she had just realized.

"You forget the suit, didn't you?" He asked without missing a beat. "Don't worry Cottontail. I figured that would happen. We have that celebration dinner planned. How about we go shopping after?" He offered. "I'm sure I can help you get something good."

"Thanks Nick. I always like having a second set of eyes when I go shopping." She smiled and hugged him at a red light.

' _Holy shit Judy! Did you not Shower this morning or what?!'_ He thought. Not that she smelled bad by any means, it was just the opposite. She smelled so goddamn _good!_ He quickly let go of her, not wanting to risk things getting awkward. "No problem. I'm your partner, aren't I? Can't have my cute little fluffball wandering around looking all shabby. It might just cramp my style."

"Dumb Fox," she rolled her eyes and went back to driving.

He smiled and relaxed, constantly aware of her hypnotizing scent in the car. He exited the car with a mixture of relief and regret. He was glad he could finally breathe again, but missed that pleasing, tantalizing scent. He smiled and jumped out of the car.

"Clawhauser!" He called to the obese cheetah working dispatch. "How the hell are you doing?" He asked, snatching a blueberry donut as he did.

"I'm great!" He replied. ""Did you hear?! Gazelle is planning another Concert here! I need to get tickets like I need to breathe!" He gave an excited wiggle in his seat, happy that his beloved musical savior would be visiting his city again!

"Well, good luck with that," replied Nick. "In the meantime, we have a Buffalo Butt to see."

"Hopps! Wilde!" Called Bogo.

"Speak of the Devil…" Remarked Nick. "Later Spots."

"Bye Nick! Judy! Good luck as detectives!"

Nick finished munching on the donut as they entered Bogo's office. The massive cape buffalo was working on some paperwork when they entered. He closed the file and regarded them both.

"You two have been some of my finest, and most unconventional, Officers," he began. "And the source of some of my worst migraines. So I can only look forward in horror and hope as you take this next step, and become Detectives of the ZPD," he told them. "Take them. You've earned them."

He pushed a box made of polished wood across the table, inside it were two badges nestled in a soft, blue satin lining, the word "Detective," stamped into them.

"Well then, if that's all, you two are free to go. Get yourselves two suits, and get them pressed," he ordered before going back to work.

"Wow Chief, if I didn't know you better I would have expected you to be a bit happier for us," snarked Nick.

Bogo looked back at them and leaned forward, stony-faced as ever and spoke in a neutral tone of voice. "I'm ecstatic for you two, can't you tell?"

"What my partner _means_ to say, is that we are grateful for this opportunity, we won't let you down," interjected Judy. She smiled and took her badge as Nick grabbed his.

"I expect that you won't" was his reply as he went back to his work. "Close the door behind you as you leave."

The pair departed, closing the door. As soon as they were gone, he gave a heavy sigh. He had been gnuine in what he had said, they really were his best, not that he would ever tell them that. Deciding he deserved to treat himself for a few minutes, he grabbed his phone and opened the Gazelle App. He had earned this Gazelle break, dammit!

"YES!" Shouted Judy as they exited the building, jumping into the air and giving a twist before landing back on her feet.

"Okay, Carrots," he told her, looking at her. "You can't just binky like that and realistically expect me to not call you cute," he remarked as he walked alongside her.

"I'm just so excited! We're detectives Nick! Detectives!" She shoved her badge in his face.

"Really?!" He gasped sarcastically. "I totally gapped on the last five minutes of my life!"

"Snarky Fox,"

"Excitable bunny."

She wanted to say something back, but her excitement won out and she binkied again before walking to the tram station with Nick. They had an evening planned as celebration for them making detectives.

* * *

They took the tram over to the downtown area, where they planned to share a meal at a very nice restaurant." They shared a table and looked over the menus. Nick ordered the halibut steak and Judy had the vegetable stir fry and they shared some wine.

"To us, Carrots," he proposed a toast. "The bunny and fox that somehow made detectives on the ZPD."

"To us!" Agreed Judy, clinking her glass with his. She caught herself staring into his eyes, again. She couldn't help it, they were a piercing shade of green, with black slits. He normally kept them hidden behind polarized, mirrored sunglasses, to protect his nocturnal eyes from the harsh sunlight. But when she could see them, she always loved looking at them. There was something alluring about them, maybe it was just the fact that they were so unlike anything she had ever seen, growing up in Bunnyburrow, the only fox around had been Gideon, and she had avoided him like the plague as she had grown up.

She also stole glances at his teeth as he ate as well, when she knew he wouldn't notice. Just admiring her partners meticulous dental hygiene was all.

They ate and enjoyed themselves, not noticing the people typing away on their phones around them. They would later realize what this meant, and would wish they had noticed and said something.

* * *

After dinner, Nick accompanied her to a store where they went shopping for her detective outfits. He really came alive during this, telling her the best place to get the best deal on good clothing, reminding her that this was for work, not a formal occasion, so comfort and ease of movement was more important than anything else. He also began explaining the finer points of suit shopping to her. His father, a tailor, had drilled it into him. Judy was grateful, her father was never big into fashion, and she had never gone shopping for anything besides casual wear, so having Nick along was a big help. Turns out that they are just a great team in every respect, not just police work.

"Okay, Carrots, we're getting at least three suits," he began, walking through the aisles until they got to the stuff for rabbits. "A dark one, a light one, and one in the middle, with at least one shirt per suit. After that, you're free to do as you please with regards to them. Got it?" He asked, ignoring the looks he got. This was a store for small prey mammals, so a fox was extremely out of place.

She nodded. She wandered through the aisles, Nick followed her and held the stiff she picked out. The suits were all easy enough, three pantsuits in Black, grey and light grey, it was the dress shirts that she spent a long time picking out. But she settled on a white one, a green one and a purple one, all pastel colors, they complimented her light grey fur nicely.

They went to checkout and Judy flinched a bit at the cost of the clothing, but Nick assured her that it was all worth it. "Unless you want Chief Buffalo Butt to be all up on your tail about the dress code and such," She paid for the stuff and they departed the store, a few bags full of her new clothes.

"Now make sure you pay close attention to the washing instructions," warned Nick. "You don't want to ruin them so soon after you bought them."

"I got it, Nick, throw them in the washer on whatever and blast them with heat from the dryer," she smirked at the faux-horrified expression on his face.

"Carrots! You know how seriously I take clothing!" He gasped, being purposefully over-dramatic. "Give me those bags, you clearly don't deserve them!"

She laughed along with him as they waited for the train to get there. Once it did, Judy opened her arms for a goodbye hug. He smiled and pulled her in for one, trying to ignore her tantalizing scent, that wonderful, earthy, and beautifully feminine scent that tickled his instincts and made him never want to let go.

But he did. She still had to get on her train. He sighed and took a moment to sit down on the bench in the station. He had all these feeling swirling around inside him that he was too tired to deal with. He knew he was into prey, even if almost no one else did. But he didn't know how he felt about Judy. HE knew he liked her, a lot, but he wasn't sure if those feelings were platonic, romantic, sexual, some combination thereof, or what. He sighed again and stood up before heading back to his apartment.

Judy returned to her shoebox apartment and Nick walked back to his apartment. They both went to bed, excited for the next day and blissfully unaware of the coming storm.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the Savannah Central Happytown

A lion looked over the crates in front of him with wide eyes. He had shaved patches of fur with tattoos beneath, marking him as a member of the East Savannah Pride gang. "Shit, so you're really selling this kind of hardware on the cheap?" He asked. The crates in front of him were filled with M4A1 assault rifles, MP5K submachineguns, M590 shotguns, M9 handguns, M67 fragmentation grenades, Claymore mines, C-4 kits and MGL-140 grenade launchers.

"Of course," replied the zebra in front of him, dressed in a crisp suit. "Everyone has to start somewhere, right?" he asked, trying to hide his disgust at having to show the chomper in front of him any kind of respect.

"What about ammo?" Asked the lion.

"We'll give you some for free to start out," he explained. "Call it a gesture of goodwill." _'I hope you fucking choke on it,'_ he thought. The zebra took a moment to remind himself that this was all for the greater good.

"You're amazing," smirked the lion. "I'll take it all." He snapped his claws and a pair of lionesses came over and opened two briefcases, packed to the brim with dollar bills.

The zebra took the cases, trying not to flinch as his hooves were forced to touch their paws. He walked away with the money as the predator gang began loading up the weapons into pickup trucks and SUVs to haul them out to whatever hole they called their home base. He didn't care. If everything went according to plan, predators like them would soon be in their proper place in society.

Claws knew what he was doing.

On the other side of the Savannah Central Happytown, an associate of his was working out a similar deal with another predator gang, a Hyena gang called The Westside Savannah Spots selling them similar weapons with a similar deal. With any luck, the ensuing gang war would generate the kind of response they were looking for, and the first step to a proper society would be taken.

It was only a matter of time.

* * *

 **Author's Notes**

* * *

Just a few answers to questions that will probably come up, Nick is a closeted preyophile, only Finnick knows about his attraction to prey species, and Judy is a latent predophile. She's super-attracted to predator species but hasn't realized it yet.

The setting is best described as mostly Cannon Zootopia, but with a Zistopian past. Predator segregation and shock collars used to be a thing, but the collars were outlawed before Nick was born, and segregation was abolished at around the time Judy was born. More information will be revealed, but it will be revealed through exposition in the story itself.

I'm going to be attempting a relatively slow burn on this fic, but I'm not ready to promise anything. I have some of it outlined and a vague idea of where it is going and how it will end, and I don't want to stretch things out too much.

Tell me what you guys think about this, I;m curious to know how you thought I was with regards to characterization, writing style, pacing, etc... I know this is only the first chapter but knowing what you guys think will really help me out here.


	2. Storm

When Nick and Judy entered Precinct One it was buzzing with activity, nothing unusual, but there was an enormous sense of urgency about it. "HOPPS WILDE!" Nearly screamed Bogo as soon as he saw them. "Report to my office immediately!"

Nick and Judy looked at each other. Judy was dressed in a black jacket and pants paired with a violet shirt, and Nick was wearing a green suit with a green tie.

Bogo was hunched over piles of work and paper. "How would you like a hell of a first case to cut your teeth on?" He asked, not even looking at them. "Gang violence and arms trafficking."

"What happened?" Asked Judy, all business.

"At around one in the morning, Savannah Central gangs East Savannah Pride and the Westside Spots entered into a brutal gang war," he explained. "Bad enough in itself, but even worse were the weapons," he explained, handing them each a file. "They were all using military-grade assault rifles, shotguns, explosives and so forth. Both sides."

"God damn…" muttered Nick. "Street Gangs with that kind of firepower… Not a pretty picture."

"Dozens of gang members dead, massive property damage, this is priority one!" He emphatically stated. "normally I would give you two something smaller, but City Hall wants our best! And given the racially-charged nature of the crime, and your impressive history, City Hall wants you two working with Wolford and Fangmeyer," he explained. He sighed. "A lot of innocent mammals were hurt and killed in the crossfire, and a lot of property damage occurred. Given that these were two predator gangs, prey mammals are getting scared, and Prey Supremacist groups have been emboldened. Given how much you two have done to heal those particular wounds, you'll be the lead detectives on the case, with Wolford and Fangmeyer assisting and mentoring you."

He leaned back in his chair. "I wish I could give you two something simpler and less public, but I agree with Mayor Swinton that you two may be the best way to mitigate the fallout from this."

"Wow, you agreeing with Mayor Swinton?" Asked Nick. "I'm pretty sure that was in the bible as one of the signs of the apocalypse."

"WILDE SO HELP ME GOD..!" He took a deep breath to calm himself. "I am not in the mood for this today."

"Nick will keep a lid on it," promised Judy, shooting a glare at him.

"I'll hold you to that," he said after a pause. "And yes, while I don't usually agree with Mayor Swinton on quite a few issues, but the two of you maintaining such a visible friendship and partnership has done a great deal to mend the wounds of this city caused by Bellweather." He left out the decades of oppression before that, as he felt it went unsaid. "But if this boils over, it could be terrible, especially if the prey animals start getting caught in the crossfire."

The duo nodded and got up to depart his office.

"By the way, you have a new car, unmarked, department issue," he told them, tossing them a set of keys. "Don't wreck it, and report to Wolford and Fangmeyer in the Savannah Central Happytown. Major Crimes is also getting involved, they're providing an office for the detectives on this case to use. Got it?"

"Yes sir!" Replied Judy, snatching the keys and walking off with Nick in tow. As soon as they were out of the office, she turned to Nick. "Hey, don't judge me, but what's a 'Happytown?'" She asked, then flushed at his gob smacked look both of them gave her. "Don't judge me! I've never heard that term before!"

He sighed. "Okay, you drive, I'll explain."

They found the car, a nice black car that was the perfect size for both of them. Nick got in the passenger seat and Judy got in the driver's seat.

"Okay, Happytowns… bit of a sore subject, probably why you've never heard of them. You probably know of them as 'Predator Protection Districts,'" he told her. "Basically, they were sections of various districts that were fenced off and used to corral predator populations during the days segregation. After it was outlawed, probably around the time you were born, the fences came down and some of the predator populations moved out. The areas are still overwhelmingly populated by predators, however. And the only prey mammals that live there are either criminals or too poor to live anywhere else," he explained. "There used to be on in every district, but some of them have been gentrified in the decades since Pred segregation ended. The only ones left are in the Rainforest District, Savannah Central, Tundratown and the Nocturnal District, with the latter being the largest."

"What are they like?" She asked, remembering what she had heard about them in school.

"Dangerous, mostly. The police don't have much presence in the Happytowns, hence why the gang problem is so huge there. Lot of young predators who have more balls than brains, and a city that doesn't like them a whole lot."

Judy said nothing as she drove. Then she thought about something. "Bogo said it would only be bad if prey species started dying," she pointed out. "Isn't that kind of speciest?" She asked, confused.

"Ehh… Not really," explained Nick. "Said like that, without context it sounds bad. But what he meant was that if innocent prey mammals start getting killed in the crossfire between two predator gangs it will give prey supremacist groups a _TON_ of ammo to fuel their anti-pred rhetoric," he explained to her. "He meant that things are already bad, but if _that_ happens, we'll be out of the pan and straight into hell."

* * *

Soon, they were in the Savannah Central Happytown, near where the gang war had broken out. It looked like a warzone. Buildings were scorched and blown out, shattered glass shards was everywhere, spent shells riddled the ground and well over a dozen chalk outlines were spread all over the street and sidewalks.

Wolford saw them and waved them over. "Detectives," he greeted.

"Hell of a mess, huh?" Asked Nick, surveying the damage. "Chief gave us the cliff's notes."

"Well here's the novel. At approximately one in the morning, the Savannah Spots, a Hyena gang were ambushed by the Savannah Central Pride, a gang consisting primarily of lions, with some other large cat species as well. The Pride were expecting to have the upper hand, but the Spots also possessed similar military grade weapons. Whole thing turned into a massacre for both sides." He explained.

Fangmerer approached. "We recovered some of the weapons," she spoke in her baritone voice. "But it's not good. No serial numbers. They haven't been scratched off, they were never there in the first place. So we have no idea where they came from. For all we know they weren't even made in this country."

Judy sighed. "So tracking them from the source is out, but it does suggest that they had help from inside the factory that were making these."

"Or factories," suggested Nick. "They could come from multiple sources. Without the numbers we have no way of knowing."

"You two are the leads in this case," reminded Wolford. "What is your next move?"

"Canvass the area and see if anyone saw anything. Then we track down the gang members and see if any of them will talk," answered Judy.

"And put out feelers for anything suspicious. I'll reach out to my old contacts and see if any of them know anything," added Nick. "Between that and the canvassing, we should be able to find at least one lead."

"Good thinking," smiled Fangmeyer. "You two apply the same level of care and effort to detective work as you did patrol and you'll make fantastic detectives."

"Thanks, Anything else we should know?" Asked Nick.

"Yeah, you'll have to report to the tech department to get some software on your phones. Secure digital dropboxes and the like," she explained. "Way better than lugging around folders full of paper. Bring laptops if you have them as well," she instructed.

"We will. Carrots, shall we begin?" Asked Nick.

"Yeah, yeah…" She trailed off as she looked over the crime scene. When she took it all in it was kind of staggering. Well over a dozen thinking, feeling, breathing mammals, all dead. She had seen stuff like this before, but never on this scale. They usually didn't patrol the Happytowns.

"Carrots?" He asked, waling over to her. "Judy?"

That shook her out of it. H so rarely used her given name. "Yeah, I'm okay," she replied, shaking her head. "Just, shocking is all."

"Gonna be dangerous. Taking on serious gun runners," he warned.

"Scared?" She taunted, smirking. "I could always go it alone and let you stay home and make me dinner while I bring home the tofu."

"BugBacon or I divorce you," he warned. "I'll do anything for love carrots, except eat tofu."

Judy laughed at that, tension flooding out of her body. Nick always knew how to make her relax. "I needed that," she admitted, giving a smile that made his heart skip.

"Sure thing, Carrots," he replied with a confident smirk.

They started knocking on doors in the immediate area and asking if any of the residents had heard or seen anything. The general response was that they were too scared for their own lives to do anything besides cower in fear of the war raging outside.

Meanwhile, Nick made a few calls to various contacts from before he was a cop and none of them had anything immediate for him, but some of them, like Finnick, promised to keep an ear to the ground.

"Now Finnick, there _is_ a finite amount of ground in Zootopia, you know that, right?" He teased

"Up yours Wilde!" Screamed Finnick before hanging up the phone.

"Can you please not antagonize people who might help us solve the case?" Asked Judy, rolling her eyes.

"Relax, Finnick and I have a great back and forth," he reassured her. "You should know this by now."

"I mean, I'm just always surprised when you two act like arch enemies but always come through for each other. Why is that?"

Nick sighed. "Okay, Carrots. Real Talk time," he told her as they got back in the car. "There are exactly two mammals in this entire city that I would trust my life to without a second thought, two mammals that I know beyond any shadow of a doubt that would never betray me. One of them is you, and the other is Finnick."

Judy stared at him when he said that.

"And Finnick feels the same way about me. We fight all the time but that's just us being guys. When the chips are down, we will both always be there for each other, even if I am with 'the fuzz' now."

"Wow, I never knew. I men I knew you were friends, but that's. Wait, only me and him? What about the other cops at the precinct?" She asked. "Do you know something?"

"No," he answered. "But I would definitely be thinking long and hard about trusting them with my life. I just don't know them well enough."

Judy thought long and hard about that as they drove back to the precinct, a bit stunned by how much Nick trusted her.

"Judy," he got her attention.

"Yeah?"

"Be careful on this one. I mean it. We're not beat cops anymore. We're gonna be fighting more than jumped-up street trash." He sighed and took off his sunglasses to look directly at her. "I mean it. Serial Killers, Gun runners, professional killers, this is the big leagues. I trust you to always have my back. Do you trust me with the same?"

"Nick! How could you even-"

"I need to hear you say it, okay? Just do that for me?" He asked, pleading with her. He had taken off his sunglasses. His eyes with locked onto her, pupils narrowed into slits. "Just tell me you'll be there for me."

Judy wasn't sure where this was coming from and it worried her a bit. Nick never let anything get to him, at least, not in any visible way. She looked back at him. "I promise, I'll be there for you."

He sighed and leaned back in the passenger seat. "Thanks, Fluff," he told her, smiling. "It means a lot to me."

Judy smiled and parked the car. They had a lot of files to go through, they needed to learn who died in the shootout and who these gangs were.

"You go ahead, Carrots, I'll grab us some coffee. I think we're gonna need it."

"Decaf for me!" She called as she hopped off. She had had caffeine exactly once in her life, it didn't go well. She had been up for days, unable to sleep, before brutally crashing.

Nick left and found that the break room was mercifully empty. He put on a pot of decaf for her, and decided that this was a great place and time to let things out. He collapsed in a chair and let out a deep breath. He never let anything get to him. Not in any way that anyone could see. But that crime scene really shook him up. He hadn't seen violence like that since…

He slammed the door on that thought with a shudder. He buried his face in his paws and sagged as the coffee maker bubbled. He was scared, really scared. This was way bigger than anything they had ever tackled in the past. He was scared for Judy and himself. But mostly Judy. She was eager, energetic and had a tendency to dive into things headfirst. That had gotten her a bit hurt in the past, but now that they were working much more dangerous cases, he was worried it would get her badly hurt.

Or worse.

He sighed and grabbed the pot of coffee and a rabbit-sized mug. After grabbing them both coffee, he took a moment to reapply his nonchalant demeanor before he joined her in the office in the Major Crimes Office. It was nice, clear walls that doubled as transparent marker boards, and another, traditional whiteboard in the center of the room in front of a large table. "Perks of the job, huh Carrots?" He asked as he looked around the place while handing her the mug.

"This is just because this case if being filed under Major Crimes," she reminded him as she took the mug. "Okay, we have a lot to read and not a lot of time in which to do it. How about you take the Spots and I'll take the Pride?"

"Divide and conquer, huh? Works for me."

They split up the files and began skimming through them. Soon the only sound was the scratching of pens as they wrote notes on the sheets of paper, broken only by the sound of a sip from a mug.

* * *

Mayor Swinton reclined in her chair as she spoke on a phone. "Last night went extremely well," She spoke into the device. "How about Tundratown? Is that all set to go?"

"Of course," replied a heavily-modulated voice on the other side. "The deal will go down on schedule next week. After Tundratown and the Nocturnal District are in flames, we should be all set to begin phase two."

"And then into a future where everything is coming up Swinton," She remarked with a smirk.

"Of course, I trust my money is on the way?"

"I'll make sure the drop is completed as discussed," she promised. "I was skeptical when you approached me, but I really like how this is all coming together."

"I am a businessman, Miss Swinton. And I know an opportunity when I see one. Lionheart was too straight and Bellwheather was pause. "Are you sure about the detectives working the case?"

"Relax, I have a pair of rookie detectives who got lucky once. By the time they even start to get a sniff of anything going on, it'll be too late," she brushed off his concerns. "Anyway, I have to go. Talk later?"

"I'll be in touch." The line went dead.

"Weirdo," she scoffed before looking over her desk. She picked up a file. Big, black letters covered the front. "Tactical Utility Servicemen in Kevlar." She smirked at it and put it down.

"Everything is coming up Swinton," she repeated softly before serving herself a drink out of an expensive crystal decanter. She swirled it around, hearing the ice cubes clink against the matching tumbler before taking a drink of the outrageously expensive scotch.

"'Bout time too."

* * *

 **Author's Notes**

* * *

And here is chapter two, more setup for what's to come, these chapters are getting a bit easier to write as the fic goes on and I start to get some momentum behind me. Please leave reviews, I love them so.

As for having multiple Happytowns, I probably aren't the first guy to come up with that idea, but it makes sense to me. Predators live in all kinds of climates, and shoving them all into one place just wouldn't be practical. I doubt that Fennec Foxes and Polar bears could live in the same environment, whatever it was. So multiple "Happytowns" was the idea I decided to go with.

And as for what "TUSK" stands for, I shamelessly ripped that off from MaveriKat, who is writing one of the greatest works of fanfiction I have ever read called "Fox Point" right here on fanfiction . net. It's a Zootopia/Sly Cooper crossover and it is go amazingly good you guys. Go and read it.


	3. Reflections

Hours later, Nick and Judy had done enough work to justify going away fir the night, and with the Secure Police dropboxes now installed on their phones, they could easily carry the case home with them easily. "See you tomorrow?" He asked. "I got a thing with Finnick tonight."

"Yeah, see you later." Judy waved and left for her apartment.

Nick sighed and took the train back to his apartment in the Rainforest District. He went to his apartment and opened a long, thin box under his bed and looked to make sure nothing had been stolen, and then nodded. He heard a van backfire, followed by a honk. Finnick was there. He grabbed the box and carried it to the van.

"Hey Fin," he greeted. "You ready?" He sked.

"For the night. Yeah. For listening to your pussy ass whining all night? No."

"I missed you Fin," he smirked.

"Yeah, yeah."

They drove in silence for a little bit. "So you manage to get your knot into your fuckbunny yet?"

Nick rolled his eyes and looked at him. "You know that we don't have that kind of relationship." Finnick knew about Nick's attraction to prey species, the only other person who did. When you get caught with your knot in one hand while watching some ewe-on-ewe porn… Well, Nick might be slick, but there was a limit to what he could talk his way out of.

"But you want that kind of relationship, right?" He smirked at his former con partner.

"I plead the fifth."

"Whatever you say, preyfucker."

"I am not going to sit here and take that from someone whose idea of foreplay involves a binky, onesie and a 'Mommy.'" Nick fired back as Finnick stopped the van at a red light.

The two of them stared each other down for a little bit, and then both burst out laughing. "Okay, okay, glad to see that being a cop hasn't made you go soft."

"Please, I may be straight right now. But I'm still Slick Nick," he replied with a grin. Not a smile, a grin that showed off his fangs. This was part of why he liked hanging out with Finnick, when it was just them, they didn't need to hide their fangs. "Seriously, how the hell have you been?"

"Not too bad," he replied. "Van's holding up, Cherry's doing well. Can't complain."

"Good."

"How's detective life treating you?" He asked.

"How do you know about that?" Asked Nick. "No one's made an announcement."

Finnick laughed. "Have you not been online today?"

"Been kind of busy with a case, the same case I asked you about."

"Right. Anyway, someone took a video of you and Officer Carrottop in the restaurant and uploaded it online, along with you two talking about becoming detectives. Whole internet's gone nuts."

"Shit. We were hoping to keep the whole thing on the quiet. Avoid a media circus."

"HA!" Barked Finnick in laughter. "Good Luck, you two took down two corrupt Mayors. You may not be as big as before, but any news about you two is big time shit. Half of all the articles I read mentioned that they were looking to get an interview with the chief!"

"Fan-fucking-tastic," he muttered. "Let's just shoot some arrows and then grab some beers, okay?"

"Now you're speaking my language!" Replied Finnick as he pulled into the parking lot of the Archery Range.

Nick popped open the box he had brought with him and grabbed a bow out of it, a forest-green colored compound bow. Finnick also grabbed his, a tan-colored one, and they walked into the range, grabbing some arrows as they paid for an hour of range time.

* * *

Judy sighed and closed the door to her apartment and closed the door. She walked over to her laptop on her desk and opened it up to review the files deposited in her dropbox. She knew she should probably be taking a break, but she had a hard time switching out of "cop mode." She began pouring through the file until she started to feel sleepy, looking for something they missed. But she couldn't find anything. She and Nick had been quite thorough.

And with that, her thoughts drifted to Nick. She felt truly blessed to have such a great friend. He was her friend, right? Not that she doubted he was always there for her, she just wasn't sure of her own feelings towards him. She knew she liked him as a friend, but did she feel something more than that? That was the question that had been buzzing around in the back of her mind since their talk in the car. Nick had gotten unusually intense just them, and it had made her wonder just how she felt about him.

She knew she didn't want to lose him, and that she loved spending time with him, but those could be easily applied to either platonic or romantic feelings, and just what was the difference between the two? Intensity? She sighed and got up to go and get herself a drink of water and a few sticks of celery to nibble on while she thought.

She took a moment to do a mental inventory of how she felt about Nick. Did she like being around him? Yes. Did she like him as a friend? Absolutely. Did she like his scent..? Where had that come from? She thought about it. Rich, musky and with a hint of violets. Especially during winter when he was in his mating season-

Judy nearly fell out of her chair at that unbidden thought. She shook her head. Was she _sexually_ attracted to Nick? No! She couldn't be! She liked bunnies! Right?

She shook her head and tried to get back to work, and pushed thoughts of Nick and his scent out of her mind.

* * *

Nick grinned as his arrow hit the bullseye. Nick and Finnick had a bet going on, whoever got the most bullseyes had to pay for the drinks. "I'm up two big guy," he taunted. "Better start getting serious."

Finnick grumbled and nocked another arrow. He pulled back the string and let the arrow loose. It hit the bullseye, dead center. "You were saying?"

"Still up by one," he reminded Finnick. "And there aren't a lot of arrows left. Better hope I screw up."

"SO better hope you preform normally?" He quipped.

"Ha. Ha. Ha." Nick nocked an arrow and let it fly. It missed the bullseye. "Damn," he deadpanned.

"Uh Oh! Looks like Big Finnick is on the rise!" His diminutive friend laughed.

"Laugh it up, by the end of the night, you'll be the pone paying for the drinks."

* * *

' _Okay, one more time, I am NOT sexually attracted to Nick. I. Like. Bunnies,'_ Judy told herself. _'I only looked at Sheena's hidden Knotty Dogs magazines once or twice or six-plus times out of curiosity!'_ She had her face in her paws as she tried to deny the unfortunate reality that she might be attracted to a fox of all mammals, and not just any fox, her partner! Her best friend! What if he found out and their friendship was ruined? What if he didn't feel the same way? _'What if he does?'_ Whispered a treacherous part of her mind.

"Shut up, I like bunnies," she muttered.

' _Really? Name a single Buck you've been attracted to?'_ challenged that same part of her mind.

"Well, there was… I mean, I was into… There was definitely…" She racked her mind to try and figure out a single solitary male rabbit that she had ever been attracted to. "I was focused on getting into the ZPD," she rationalized. "I didn't have time to pursue a relationship."

' _Whatever you say.'_

Judy sighed and went back to nibbling her celery, suddenly very tired. She went to undress and go to sleep. She curled up in her bed and soon fell asleep, confused by the thoughts buzzing in her head.

* * *

Nick ended up losing and bought two six-packs for him and Finnick to share out of the back of his van.

"So what has Cherry beam up to anyway?" He asked Finnick. "She still trying to get you to move out of your van?"

"Yeah," he replied, looking down at his can of beer. "She wants me to move in with her."

"Go for it man! Do it! It's not like you'll lose the van, you can keep it and not have to sleep in it and instead sleep with Cherry!" he encouraged.

"I… I don't know man, I like Cherry, but I don't know, this seems… Serious… I'm…" he sighed. "I'm scared."

"I get it," replied Nick. Leaning back. "You're not sure you're ready for a real relationship."

"I'm still figuring out if I'm even capable of having one!" He replied. "I'm a small-time hustler who lives out of his van! I am not the stuff a stable boyfriend is made of, Cherry deserves better."

"Then be better," encouraged Nick. "You've kept this van running for years past when it should have crapped out on you. You could get a good job in a garage somewhere, Bet they would love a guy like you to get into all those tight spaces they bigger guys can't reach."

"You callin' me short Wilde?" He asked, not able to muster up his usual venom with regards to his height. "I bet they would keep me for a week before some stuff goes missing and they blame the fox," he scoffed.

"Maybe. But Finnick, what makes a good boyfriend for Cherry, is that willingness to try. Just go for it and maybe the job doesn't work out, but doesn't Cherry at least deserve the effort?"

Finnick didn't say anything, just took another drink. "I just don't want to actually mate with her, you know, for real, and then trap her in a relationship she might hate."

"Then make it a relationship she won't hate."

Finnick gave a heavy sigh. "Outta all the things we evolved out of, why did we have to keep that whole, 'mating for life' thing?" He sighed.

"Because the universe hates foxes and wants us to suffer?" Offered Nick as a suggestion.

"Fuckin' a-men to that."

They finished drinking and Finnick said goodbye to Nick as he left to go walk, slightly tipsy, to the train station. He got in a train and headed back to his apartment in the rainforest district and climbed into bed.

* * *

Judy woke up the next morning bright and early and ready for work, although the low-quality sleep last night had taken the spring out of her step. Nevertheless, she was determined and optimistic to present what they had to the Chief. She met Nick in the Bullpen and sat down next to him.

"Morning partner," she chirped. "Ready to make the world a safer place?" She asked, holing out her fist for a fist-bump.

Nick smiled and looked at her, her enthusiasm always made him feel warm. "You know it Fluff. Here, decaf." He slid her over a rabbit-sized cup of coffee with carrot creamer. He returned her fist bump.

She smiled and took it from him, accidentally brushing fingers with him and almost blushing at the contact. The thoughts from last night still rattling around in her head.

"A-TEEEEN-HUT!" Shouted Higgins. Bogo walked into the room shortly after.

"Alright! No time for funny business! We have violent street gangs with military-grade weapons and no clue where they are coming from!" He reminded all of them. "This is Priority One, Two and Three Hopps! Wilde! You had better have something."

They got up and Nick gave Judy a boost so she could stand on top of the lectern that the Chief used for the morning assignments. At her signal, Nick dimmed the lights and turned on the projector.

"This is Darius Fangson, also known as 'Big D,'" began Judy at the image of the lion that cable up on the projector. He was tall and broad, with a splotchy, irregular red dye job around his claws and muzzle, supposed to be evocative of blood splatters. A popular thing among young street-tough preds who wanted to look intimidating. "He's one of the big players in the Pride that is confirmed to still be alive. We want him found and brought in for questioning." She began. "We know that he frequents several establishments, such as a liquor store on the corner of third and Pack Street and a strip club known as 'The Kitty Klub,' and that he lives in the fifth street projects." She flicked through the relevant slides as she spoke.

"Second POI is Franklin Cubbs," she explained as the picture of a lanky hyena popped onto screen. "He's one of the bigger members of the Spots. He has a pretty sizeable record and is a bit skittish. So he might go to ground to stay out of sight. He mostly hangs out at his home in the eighth street apartments and the gang's hideout somewhere near the edge of the Happytown where it meets with Sahara Square. Apparently their leader likes the warm climate of Sahara Square. We don't have an exact location so we're going to cast a wide net and have several unmarked patrol cars in the general vicinity. For the other places, one unmarked car for each location. You see either of them bring them in. WE have plenty of probable cause so don't be afraid to slap the cuffs on them."

"All relevant information has been distributed to your dropboxes. We want these guys brought in for interview and possibly interrogation," explained Nick as he turned the lights back on. "We have other POIs but these are the two big targets. The information on he others will be added to your dropboxes later today after we get the files down to the guys in tech."

Judy hopped off of the lectern and hefted up a stack of red case tiles that was bigger than she was, which Bogo took with one hoof.

"You heard the bunny. Come here and take the files with your assignments."

The red folders were handed out to various officers and detectives, and when they were all finished, the rest of the bullpen were given assignments unrelated to the case Hopps and Wilde were working on. When everyone had left, they met with the chief in private. Nick had something he wanted to discuss with him.

"Make it quick Wilde. I'm very busy."

"Chief, I was thinking last night, and I think things are about to get a lot worse." He began. "Two street gangs in the same place at the same time, each getting this kind of firepower? There's no way that was a coincidence. I think there's something bigger going on."

"You think I'm naïve Wilde? Of course there is. All the more reason to find the dealer of dealers and bring them down quickly. The sooner we find out what's really going on, the sooner we can shut it down." He sighed. "But still, you arrived on that conclusion on your own, so you might just be a competent detective after all."

"Wow, chief, that was almost a compliment."

"Don't you have work to do?" He asked with a deadpan expression. "Go on."

"Yes sir." Judy grabbed Nick and dragged him away.

"Well, Carrots? Shall we?" He asked when they got into the unmarked car at the motor pool and buckled up.

"We shall." She started the car and drove them away. "Let do this!"

* * *

"Ugh! This is so boring," she moaned for the third time in the last hour. They were sitting outside the building that Cubbs stayed at. "How has he not shown his face yet?" She asked.

"We expected this Carrots," Replied Nick as he snacked on some grasshopper fries from BuggaBurger. "After a stunt like that it makes sense that he would go to ground. This gut isn't big or strong, but he is smarter than your average gangster. That's how he went so far."

"I know but how is this not unbearable to you?"

"It's a predator thing. We're used to this. Lying in wait, knowing out prey is just out of our reach, waiting for them to make one fatal mistake before we… POUNCE!" He pretended to lunge at her with his claws out and his teeth bared.

"Nick!" Judy laughed. "Come on! Be serious." She admonished playfully as she tried to calm down her racing heart. Nick's "Pounce" had excited her in ways she didn't want to deal with at the moment.

"You know that's a tall order, right?" He smirked, cracking the window to get some fresh air. Breathing her scent in for the last few hours was pure torture. He was just glad that he had a case file to cover his lap with.

"You know, this is nice," she said after a few moments of comfortable silence. "I know this is important work, but it's nice to spend time with you like this."

"Same, Fluff, same."

"Dispatch this is car ZPD-A118, we have apprehended Darius outside of the Kitty Klub. Bringing him in for questioning. Over."

"ZPD-A118 this is Dispatch," came Clawhauser. "Solid copy, preparing an interview room for you."

Judy snatched the radio handset. "Dispatch this is car ZPD-A113, Hopps and Wilde, coming into the station for interview. Over."

"Solid copy, ready to receive you."

Judy replaced the handset. "Who goes to a strip club the day after starting a gang war?" She asked incredulously.

"Someone who is not very smart," answered Nick.

"Yeah, yeah. Come on Slick. We have a lead to chase."

"What about Franklin?" He asked.

"We'll get him another day. Besides, if he hasn't shown his muzzle yet, we probably won't catch him. We have a perp to interview, we can always come back and get him later. We know his pattern."

"All the same…"

"Attention all cars assigned to Franklin, keep the stakeout going. Cars assigned to Darius join up with them. Hopps and I will need him found in case Darius clams up."

"This is Car A115, this is Delgato and Higgins, copy that, we'll head over and keep watching his house for you two while you head back to the precinct."

"Solid Copy. Thanks." HE hung up. "What have I told you over and over? Cover all your bases, Carrots."

She punched him in the shoulder with a grin.

"Police Brutality!" He cried, rubbing his shoulder playfully.

"I prefer to call it 'tough love,'" she replied with a smirk of her own.

"Just drive the car, Carrots."

* * *

 **Author's Notes**

* * *

Sorry about the wait. it took a bit longer than I expected to get this chapter up and running. But the good news is that the story is FINALLY getting going. Hopefully the momentum will build from here and more people get interested in what is going on. As for why Nick and Finnick went to an Archery Range, I'll explain that a little in future chapters, but it's also because I wanted them doing something a bit more interesting than just sitting in a bar and drinking.

As always, feedback is appreciated. Anything you can think of that you like or anything that you think needs improvement, please shout it out in the comments.

Love you guys.


	4. Progress

Nick and Judy arrived back at Precinct one in record time. They went to Clawhauser and asked where Darius was being held.

"So how do you want to do this Carrots? Devastatingly handsome Good Fox Cop and Aggressive and aggressively cute bad bunny cop?"

"Let's do it Slick," She replied as they walked past Clawhauser's desk. "Got any information to give to us?" She asked the chubby cheetah.

"He's a meanie alright. Brought in in cuffs and is really aggressive. They put him in the room to stew until you two got here."

"Thanks, anything else?"

"Not really. Ask Higgins and Delgato, they brought him in."

They learned from the two arresting officers that he was big, mean and not very bright. Extremely aggressive though, they suspected he had taken some Nightshadow recently, and their suspicions were confirmed when they had caught him trying to ditch it in the backseat of the car. They handed Judy the baggie with a syringe of clear blue liquid in it.

"I hate this stuff," frowned Nick. "Every time we shut down a place another one crops up. Someone wants this stuff on the street."

"Can you blame them? It's making a killing. Practically every other pred we bring in has this crap in their systems," replied Delgato. "Lots of predators want to feel like the biggest, strongest guy on the block. This stuff does that. A screwed-up liver is a small price to pay for that, far as they're concerned."

After Bellwether had been put away on multiple criminal charges, including conspiracy, assault, intentional endangerment of mammals and illegal possession of a class-c botanical substance without a license, Nick and Judy had hoped that Nighthowlers were going to just go away. And Judy honestly believed that they would. But that was not the way the world worked, sadly. After a few months, two new street drugs from the substance had hit the streets, a performance enhancement drug known as "Nightshadow," named such because it was a "shadow" of the Nightholwer serum; as well as a more recreational substance known as "Pasture," known to induce feelings of euphoria and extremely heightened suggestiveness in whoever used it.

They were both dangerous, in different ways. The former also had its parent's side effect of sparking some nasty aggression in whoever took it, and every few weeks or so, another mauling took place when some pred on Nightshadow got bumped into or had someone look at them the wrong way. While the latter had become popular on the party scene, and had also become the date-rape drug of choice among the city's premier scumbags. But out of the two, the Nightshadow had become the more prevalent of the two. No matter how many production warehouses were shut down, they never could get it off the streets.

"Whatever, we have a guy to interrogate," said Judy. Since he had been caught with an illegal substance, they could properly interrogate him, rather than just interview him.

"Good luck you two. Hope it goes well."

They took a moment to get into character and walked into the interrogation room.

"Darius!" Greeted Nick jovially, almost like they were old friends. "Darius, Darius, Darius. What is happening with you?"

"Bite me, pig."

Judy just scowled at him.

"What's up her tail? Trouble at home, preyfucker?"

Nick knew Darius actually didn't know about his tastes, so he didn't react to the barb. "Actually, she just has a really short temper for gang members who go and shoot up half of happytown."

"Eat my ass. I wasn't there," he denied. "Just because my Fam decided to have a little fun, why should I get in trouble for that?"

"If you weren't there, then how about you just tell us where your 'fam' got those guns?" He asked. "Don't deny it. A few predators with those gang tattoos were found with those weapons dead in the street. How about we cut a deal? You tell us where you guys got those guns, and we forget all about that Nightshadow Delgato and Higgins found in the back of their car?" He offered.

"What? You think I'll sell out my boys to get out of a few days in jail?" He scoffed. "Go fuck yourselves."

"Darius, we want to help you and help your fam," he told him while Judy's scowl deepened. "Your gang is not the only one with those guns. We find the guy and your rivals won't have them either."

"Still not hearing why I should do shit for you," he spat.

Judy lost her patience hopped into the air and slammed one of her feet down on the metal table with a loud thump, leaving a sizeable dent. "Because if you don't we are going to NAIL YOU TO THE WALL for a possession charge!"

"So what?" He asked.

"I know a judge who owes me a favor," bluffed Judy. "Possession could so easily become possession with intent to distribute, and those few days in jail become a few years! You want to go to prison?! For half a decade?!"

"What the fuck?!" He demanded. "You really gonna let her roll me like that?!" He demanded angrily, looking at Nick.

Nick picked Judy up and lowered her off of the table.

"What can I say? She's a bit of a maverick. I can't really control her," he smiled. "But I can get her to back off if you help us."

Darius wasn't smart, but he did have some serious balls. "You know what. I don't think that Zootopia's cute little poster bunny is gonna do that. SO bring it on. I ain't telling you jack shit."

"Well, I tried," Nick sighed. "We'll be back in a while to charge you. Take a while to think about your decision. And if you really want to take that risk."

"Yeah, go right ahead and skulk the fuck outta here," spat Darius. "Go try and con someone else outta a confession. That's what you do, right? Con Fox?"

Judy had been mostly faking her anger with him before, but that was over the line. She stormed back in and jumped onto the table and grabbed the loin by his shirt collar. "Listen here you piece of garbage. That fox has more integrity in one single hair than you have in your entire body!" She scolded him, getting right up in his face. "So how about you take that back or I leave you in here for a few more hours with a _concussion?!_ Huh?! How does that sound big guy? No one insults My Fox!"

Nick grabbed her and pulled her away from him as she squirmed in his arms. She couldn't see, but he had the biggest, dumbest grin on his face right now as the last two words she had said replayed in his mind on a loop. _"My Fox! My Fox! My Fox!"_

Nick closed the door and left Darius alone and handcuffed to the table, and then put Judy down on the floor as she fumed. "Relax, Carrots it takes more than that to get to me."

"It's still not right. I should go back in there and set him straight," she grumbled, still looking at the door.

Nick took a moment to wipe the grin off of his face. "Look, Carrots, as much as I would enjoy the sight of him taking a twenty-pound, leg propelled bunny missile to the muzzle, this situation calls for a bit more tact," he reminded her. "And I'm pretty sure the last thing the department needs right now is a police brutality charge."

Judy huffed but agreed with him.

"I take it that things didn't go so well?" Asked Huggins.

"No good. He called our bluff." He told them. "We'll let him stew for a few hours and then maybe you guys can take a crack at it?" He asked.

"Will do."

Judy spoke up next. "In the meantime, we're going to go back on patrol and see if anything else comes up."

"Sounds good. We're about to go on break, we'll take a crack at him. Hopefully you guys rattled him at least a little."

"Can't win 'em all," Nick sighed. "Hope our other guy comes through."

"Won't know until we catch him." Smiled Judy as she started walking back towards the motor pool.

Nick smiled. Her enthusiasm was infectious.

* * *

Now that they had Darius, they focused all their efforts to finding Franklin. They were sitting on a street corner in their car in silence, Nick drinking another coffee.

"Hey Nick?" Asked Judy, wanting to ask him something she had been curious about. "Are you… seeing anyone right now?"

Nick almost choked on his coffee when he heard her ask that. "W-what?! Why?" He asked, suddenly feeling defensive. "Why do you want to know?" He asked, trying to kill the faint hope that was starting to ignite in his chest.

"Just curious," she answered. "You're a single fox in Zootopia, and a police officer, you must have _some_ vixens interested in you."

Nick gave a thick swallow. "Ehh… Not really in to Vixens."

"Oh!" Replied, Judy, surprised. "So you're…"

"It's… Complicated," he told her. "I'm… I'm not into foxes at all. I'm an Inter."

Judy looked at him. She had never know that. "Okay, like my sister?" She asked. "She's dating a Hyena, lives in Zootopia."

Nick sighed, but happily. "Yeah. Just like her. Foxes have just… Never really done it for me, you know." He looked at her with a smile. "Thanks for not being weird about it. Not everyone is that understanding," he took a deep breath, "especially with my… tastes."

"What do you mean?" She asked. "You don't have to tell me, I can tell this is a bit of a sore subject for you."

"No. No, I trust you. I want you to know," _'for so many, many reasons'_ he added in his head. "I'm not just attracted to other species, I'm attracted to prey species. Small prey in particular," he winced as the words left his mouth. He knew she would understand, but it was still nerve-wracking to admit it.

Judy understood. Relationships between predators and prey were a pretty big taboo in Zootopia. Even more so than relationships between interspecies couples.

Nick gave a bitter laugh. "Guess that makes me the lowest of the low," he remarked. "I'm a Fox, the predator that even other predators don't like, I'm attracted to other species, and even worse, the species I have a preference for are small prey." He leaned back in his seat.

Judy couldn't help herself and she leaned over and gave him a hug. "You're not," she told him. "You're a great guy. Anyone would be lucky to have you."

Nick swore he actually got whiplash from how quickly his mood changed. One moment he was sinking into self-pity and the next second he was floating on cloud nine. And cloud nine smelled like Judy Hopps and felt like a warm hug from a bunny. He smiled and hugged her back. "Thanks Judy," he smiled. "I really needed to hear that. Feels good to get that off my chest."

She smiled and gave him a punch in the arm. "Okay, Okay. So is there really anyone you're interested in?" She asked.

' _You.'_ "Not really," he lied. "I mean, I'm not really looking for anyone right now." _'Because I have you right here and you're all I want.'_

"Okay, I get it. I'm not really looking for anyone either."

"Really? Judith Laverne Hopps doesn't have all these strapping, young bucks throwing themselves at her?" He asked. "Color me shocked."

"Oh, I did, but it was always the same macho thing," she out on a deep, masculine voice. _"Oh, it's okay baby, you just need to get with me and I'll make you forget all about wanting to be a cop." "Oh, just come on, I'm sure you'll settle down after your first litter."_ "I hated all of that."

"Damn. I'm sorry," he replied. "Must have sucked big time. You really didn't have anyone?"

"Well… I had a few experiences in College, a few bucks that I dated, short affairs. None of them ever really did it for me, you know?"

Nick nodded. "I know that exact feeling. I tried dating vixens when I was younger, and it just never clicked. I felt like, like I wasn't getting anything out of the relationship."

"Like they were getting more out of it than me," replied Judy. "Huh, something to think about, maybe…" she trailed off. Could she really be an Inter? Bucks had never interested her, nor had does back home. Was it just a few bad experiences? Or was she just not interested in her own kind.

"Carrots," came Nick's voice from beside her. "I think I just spotted our target."

Judy snapped out of her reflection and looked where Nick was pointing. She brought up the picture and compared the two. It was him alright. "Okay, how are we going to play this?" She asked.

"How about I approach him while you head around the back and cut him off?" He offered.

"Works for me. Got your tranq gun?"

"Loaded for a mammal of his weight," Nick confirmed.

"Let's do this."

* * *

Franklin was on the verge of tearing his fur out. Last night was not supposed to go down the way it had. Only the Spots were supposed to have that kind of firepower. Now a bunch of the gang was dead and the cps were surely looking for him. He had already been planning to skip town, and after word on the street was that Darius had been arrested he had decided that he needed to cut his losses and get the fuck out of dodge.

He had laid low in his home for a while before grabbing all the cash he had and sticking it in a backpack with a few sets of clothing and getting ready to run. He was hyper aware of his surroundings and heard a car door slam. He flinched and saw… a fox. Not unusual around here. He took a deep breath and kept walking.

After a few moments, he heard a voice. "Franklin Cubbs, is that you?" HE whirled around and saw the fox from earlier a few feet away. He shifted his backpack. "Who wants to know?" He demanded, getting ready to bolt.

The fox took out a badge.

"Detective Nick Wilde of the ZPD. I'm gonna have to ask you to come with me," he said with a grin.

Franklins' fight-or-flight instincts kicked in and he began to back up, but tripped over something. He looked down and saw a rabbit.

"Oh, did I say 'me?' I meant 'us.'"

That was enough for him. He bolted. Pushing past the fox and rushing down the street. He had no idea where he was going but he knew he needed to get the hell out of there and away from those cops. He looked over his shoulder and saw the two of them sprinting after him as he ran for it. He pushed over garbage cans, mammals, anything he could get on the ground to hopefully trip them up. He rounded a corner into an alley and threw his bag over a fence and began to rapidly climb it. He heard something from behind him.

"Nick! Do it!"

He dropped off of the top of the fence and seconds later felt something hit him in his upper back. HE stumbled and kept running, but something was wrong. His arms felt heavy, and his legs. He began slowing down and soon stumbled again and couldn't regain his balance. He fell. He looked behind him and saw the bunny with her tranq gun empty as they walked over to him and caught their breath. His body felt so heavy. He needed to sleep…

* * *

Nick and Judy had caught up with him and he, predictably, had tried to run away. They were able to keep pace and when Franklin had tried to climb the fence, they had a plan. Nick ran ahead of her and cupped his hands and gave her a boost over the fence. His boost, combined with her jumping ability had sent her well over the fence, where she used her superlative reflexes to aim and fire her tranquilizer right between Franklin's shoulder blades. His running and elevated heart rate meant that the tranquilizer circulated through his system even faster and he was out for the count in seconds. They cuffed him.

"Detectives Hopps and Wilde here, we caught Cubbs, he tried to make a run for it, he is cuffed and out cold, waiting for pickup."

"Hopps, this is dispatch, Confirm your location and we'll have a car right over for the two of you."

"Alleyway connecting eighth and Seventh Street, across from a BuggaBurger."

"Copy that, sending a patrol car to your location."

Nick put his hands on his knees and leaned forward, panting to catch his breath and cool down. "We, we got him, nice workout too."

"Yeah, we-"she stopped short. She just realized that she had never seen Nick pant before. With his mouth open she could noticed just how long and broad his tongue was, and she also noticed his teeth. Or fangs, more like. Rows of pure white spikes lines the inside of his mouth, with four exceptionally large ones on the top and bottom rows of teeth near the front of his muzzle. The sight of those teeth did something to her and she spent several seconds just staring at them before Nick noticed and snapped his jaws shut.

"Sorry!" He exclaimed, looking borderline horrified before he remembered that this was Judy, not some bigoted prey. But now there was this awkward atmosphere between them. "I-I'll explain later, okay?" He pleaded, just wanting her to drop it for now.

She nodded silently as the image of his teeth burned itself into her mind. After a few minutes a patrol car arrived and Franklin was taken into custody and prepped for interrogation while the tranquilizer wore off.

* * *

 **Author's Notes**

* * *

Well. That was fast. Even I didn't expect to have this thing ready to go this early. Not much to say about this chapter, just getting things set up for future chapters and sowing the seeds of that sweet, sweet WildeHopps romance we all crave. Feel free to ask questions about anything you felt was unclear, and please give me feedback. Comments are love people, spread the love.


	5. Confessions

After Franklin had been picked up and was being taken back to the precinct, Nick and Judy began walking back to their car, awkward tension fading but still present. They reached the car in a few short minutes and sat down without a word. Nick leaned back in his seat and sighed. "Still curious about what happened?" He asked her.

"Yeah," she replied. Starting the engine.

"In case you're worried, you didn't do anything, okay, this is all on me," he reassured her. "Basically, as a general rule, predators never show their fangs in public. Ever."

Judy blinked at that, looking over at him.

"Yeah. Haven't you noticed that I always take such small bites when I'm with you? And that I always keep my lips closed when I smile?" He asked her. "Never let prey see your fangs, one of the core rules of pred survival back in the day. Along with never growl or snarl, take small bites and keep your claws filed down." He held up a paw to show her that indeed, his claws had been filed to dull, rounded points. "Those 'rules' were taught to young predators pretty much as soon as we could speak. After segregation ended and it became less 'okay' to taze a predator, they kind of stopped doing that, but still…" he sighed, looking at his dull claws. "Old habits die hard."

"That's… That's not right!" She exclaimed.

"Prey see fangs, they panic, they panic, you end up getting tazed or with a face full of fox repellant," he explained nonchalantly. "Used to be that way, anyway."

She frowned. "You think I'm like that?!" She asked, offended.

"Not at all!" He hurriedly replied. "I think you're the exact opposite. I just freaked out for a moment for breaking that rule. It's my bad. Just… Forget about it?" He offered.

"Yeah. Okay, but now I'm mad about other things," she told him. "It's not fair that you have to act that way."

"I agree, but like Bogo said, the city's always broken, and we can only fix it a little bit at a time."

Judy went silent after that but began to think. Nick had confided in her that he was attracted to small prey species, and she certainly fit the bill, that means she absolutely had a chance with him- _'WOAH there! Slow down Judy! You haven't even figured out if you're attracted to him. Maybe go and Talk to Sheena.'_

By the time they got back to the station, the mood had brightened between them considerably. "Ready, Carrots?" He asked.

"Once more, unto the breech." She held up a fist and Nick bumped it.

* * *

Franklin was groggy he woke up chained to a metal table, but he shot wide awake when he remembered why he was there, adrenaline flooded him and he tried to break the chains, only to give up after a few seconds. He began thinking, trying to figure out an escape strategy.

He knew he should have laid low for longer, been a bit faster, but he had no idea that they would be able to get him that easily. Maybe he could cut a deal, this was almost certainly about the weapons, maybe he could cut a deal with the cops?

He desperately hoped so.

* * *

"Good cop bad cop again?" She asked.

"Nah, he's already about to crack. I think we just need to apply a little pressure and he'll spill his guts like Duke over Mr. Big's ice pit."

"Alright. Let's get to work, partner."

They entered the room and walked in a circle around Franklin, watching him squirm as they silently regarded him.

"I assume you know why you're here?" Asked Nick.

"N-no," answered Franklin.

"Really? So you just happened to be fleeing police detectives with ten thousand dollars in cash in your backpack, along with a few changes of clothes?" Asked Judy.

"So what? That's not a crime!" He protested.

"No, but it is suspicious, especially the part where we told you that we were detectives and you ran from us," Replied Judy. "Even more suspicious is that this came just a day after you and your gang were involved in a deadly shootout. Wanna tell us about that?"

"You can't prove if I was there!" He quickly blurted out.

"Ah, but you admit that you know the people who were?" Asked Nick.

"Yeah, yeah I do. I figure you already know that, so why pick me up? I wasn't there, like I said."

"But I bet you know where the weapons came from. Don't lie, she'll know if you're lying."

"… Even if I did, which I'm not saying I am, why the fuck should I tell either of you? I'm not looking for a ticket to prison."

Nick grinned at Judy. "Tell you what, if you cooperate, my partner and I might just be able to get you a deal."

Franklin looked between them. "What kind of deal?" He asked, ready to do just about anything to avoid jail time.

"We'll agree to let you go for now and you'll help us set up a sting operation at the docks. You'll get arrested again for being there, but if it works out, we'll be processing a lot of people later that night. Your paperwork might just get… lost in the shuffle," he offered. They had already discussed the idea of this with Bogo beforehand, he was on board with the idea.

"So you go and arrest the gun runners and I'm home free?"

"Of course, we arrest the sellers, the buyers, and you slip out unscathed."

"What? No deal," he told them. "I'm not selling out my crew!"

"Franklin, this is not a good idea," warned Judy. "We might not be able to prove that you were there, but we have enough to get a warrant to search your home. Is there anything for us to find?"

Franklin couldn't suppress a wince at that. He had one of the illegal handguns in his bedroom, hidden under his bed.

Nick caught it. "So we would. Unregistered weapons are a serious crime, we might even be able to try you as an accessory to the murders that night. And if you don't fess up we'll keep cracking through your gang until we find someone who will. So are you going to give us what we want or are you going to go down?!"

"Fuck you! You don't know what life is like for preds out there! You're a fucking cop!"

That got Nick angry. He slammed his paws down on the desk. "I don't know?!" He shouted. "I'm a fox just like you! I've had it worse than you ever will! I grew up in the nocturnal District Happytown during the days of predator segregation! I barely avoided getting a fucking collar!" He ranted. "You want to talk about hard?! How about watching your father get dragged off by the cops for saving someone's life when she went into labor early and nearly died of collar-induced seizures!"

Franklin recoiled, he hadn't been expecting that response.

"Everyone out there wants to put us down, we're the scary ones! The ones with the claws and teeth! So you become what they say you are! I spent twenty-six years wasting my life as a criminal and pawpsicle hustler because I could never see myself as anything more than a shifty, shady fox! And then one day, I realized I didn't have to be that, so, with the help of a friend who was far better to me than I ever deserved, I got out of that life! Why?! BECAUSE I AM NOT THAT FOX!" Nick roared in his face before pushing off the table.

Franklin watched as Nick caught his breath, the shouting leaving him somewhat short of it.

Nick took a deep breath. "You're a smart kid. You don't have to be the predator gangbanger everyone tells you that you are. Take the cash, start over, get your diploma, get a degree, and make something of yourself." He turned around and looked Franklin in the eye. "We're giving you a way out before you become another statistic. Come on Hopps, we need to give this guy some time to think."

Judy nodded and followed Nick out of the interrogation room. "You okay?" She asked as she closed the door.

Nick took a deep breath. "I will be, Carrots. I will be." Nick looked at her. "He just reminded me a lot of myself when I was his age, stirred up some bad memories."

"Wanna talk about it?"

"No," he answered. "Maybe some other time. We have work to do, if I'm right, he'll come around and crack soon. Then he'll help us and we'll lock up Darius for possession and he'll at least be off the streets for a few days at least."

Judy nodded but put her paw over his and gave him a hug, smiling before letting him go. "You're a good fox, Nick Wilde."

Nick took a deep breath of her scent before she let go, feeling it flood his nostrils and tickle the pleasure centers of his brain. He smiled and let her go. "And you're a dumb bunny," he quipped.

Judy laughed and punched his shoulder.

"Excessive use of force!" He cried dramatically. "Bunny cop assaults innocent fox!"

"Come on Slick, I'm hungry. Let's go see what's for lunch. Give him some time to think."

* * *

They went to a nearby diner for lunch, they both got salads as Nick wasn't in for the mood for any meat, Judy sent her sister Sheena a text asking if they could meet up later tonight. When they got back to the precinct, they learned that Franklin was ready to cooperate.

"Alright," began Franklin. "He sells his shit out of a couple of huge vans, he's a deer named Richard Hooveson. We have a meeting for tomorrow night scheduled in a junkyard, I can give you the location, but I have to be there, I'm the only one he trusts to not do something stupid like steal the cash."

"And where is this Junkyard?" Asked Judy, writing down everything he said even as it was recorded.

Franklin later signed a statement agreeing that everything he had said was true to the best of his knowledge and agreed to wear a wire for the sake of the bust. The officers were all briefed and they began planning the bust.

By the end of the day, everything had come together and as long as Franklin followed through on his side of the bargain, they might be able to put down their first closed case as detectives. Right as they were on their way out the door, Judy's phone buzzed. It was Sheena, telling her that she could come right on over whenever she wanted.

"Hey, Nick, I'm gonna go. I have plans with my sister."

"You have a sister in Zootopia?" He asked.

"Yeah, Sheena, I told you about her, right?" She asked.

"Oh! Right. The punk one who's dating a Hyena?" He asked. "Give her my best."

"You've never even met her!" Laughed Judy.

"I wanna keep my options open, if things don't work out with her boyfriend it would be nice to be on good standing with a cute bunny who's into predators."

"Nick…" She warned him.

"Right, right. The whole 'cute' thing," he said. "Well, she is your sister so…"

Judy rolled her eyes but smiled and waved goodbye to him.

"See you later Carrots," he told her, still watching her cottontail wag as she walked away, needing to bite the inside of his cheek to stop from running over there and giving it a squeeze. _'It should be illegal for anyone to have an ass that great, bunny or no.'_

* * *

Nick was tired so he just went home and heated up some leftovers before going to bed, turning in early because he knew he would have a full day tomorrow and then some.

Then again…

He cursed his weak impulse control, and grabbed his laptop and opened it up. _'Hello, Rosie Palm, been a few days…'_

* * *

Judy knocked on her sister's door, she knew it was her sister's apartment not just because it matched the number she had been given, but also because she could hear loud punk rock blasting from inside the apartment even through the door. Luckily her sister could still hear the nock, because a moment later the door swung open and Judy's ears were blasted by the full force of the music her sister was listening to.

"JUDY! NICE TO SEE YOU!" Shouted Sheena above the music.

Judy winced at the volume. "Could you turn that down?! Please?!"

Sheena realized what was happening and grabbed a remote to turn the music off. "Hoe have you been? Big police girl, come to see her punk rock sister! Thanks for the warning by the way, gave me plenty of time to flush the drugs," she joked.

"Ha ha," remarked Judy dryly. "This is serious, well, serious to me, I need your help figuring out something…"

"Shoot," She replied, leading Judy into the apartment and offering her a seat. "Want a beer?" She asked.

"Yeah, yeah I might need some alcohol to get me through this." She took the offered beer and cracked it open before taking a long drink. "So you know how my partner is Nick, a fox, right?" She asked.

"Yeah, cutie too, If it wasn't for Sid I would be all up on his tail," she smirked. She saw the expression Judy was giving her. "What? Cute fox _in uniform_ , what can I say? That just _does_ it for me."

Judy took another deep pull on her drink. "Well… That was kind of what I wanted to talk to you about… I think I might be attracted to him, and to predators in general…"

Sheena blinked a few times, and then burst out laughing, clutching her sides and doubling over on her couch as she laughed and laughed. "Sorry, sorry," she replied. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry. It's just that, the straightlaced Judy Hopps, is a predophile!" She breathed. "Okay, okay. Seriously now. Why do you think that?" She asked, wanting to support her sister through this.

"Well… I like spending time with him, and lately, I've been having these thoughts. Like, I saw his fangs earlier today and, well, it was exciting. Really exciting."

"Good, good, that's a sign, anything else?"

Judy thought back. "Well, earlier he confided in me that he dulls his claws so he appears more nonthreatening, and I thought he would be really sexy with sharp claws. And I realized that I have literally never been interested in a Buck back home."

"Sounds like you really have it bad. Anything else? Maybe you're just attracted to him, and not predators in general."

"Well… I don't think that's the case. Remember how you used to hide those Predator porn magazines under your mattress? Beck in the days before the internet?"

"Yeah…" Replied Sheena, suspicious.

"Well… I used to steal them, and look over them. I did this once or twice. And then did it many, many more times than that. I think I've just been in denial my entire life but now that the attraction is emotional, not just sexual, and also focused on a particular mammal, I can't keep denying it anymore."

Sheena gave a look at that, shocked that her little sister had EVER been raiding her porn stash. She shook her heads to clear it. "You sound like you have it all figured out? Why come to me?"

Judy chewed her lip nervously. "I just, this is really new to me, and I was hoping I could talk to you if I needed to get some stuff off my chest. Like, this is all really new to me, help me figure this out?" She asked.

"Of course, Judy. Come and talk to me anytime. We have to stick together! Not just as sisters, but as predator lovers!"

Judy stood up and gave her sister a hug, which she returned happily. "Okay, you need to get back home or are you going to crash here for the night?"

"I think I'll head home, thanks Sheena, it's nice to know I have you in my corner for this. This really means a lot to me, knowing I have someone who knows what I'm going through."

"Now you just need to find out if he likes prey, that would be the perfect solution."

Judy opened her mouth to tell Sheena what Nick had told her, and then thought better of it, that wasn't her secret to tell. "Yeah, that would be the ideal," she sighed. "This won't be easy will it? If we decide to go for it?"

"Nope. Lots of people, well, you know how they feel about interspecies relationships, those are barely accepted, but predator-prey, that's a whole 'nother ballgame." Sheena smiled and looked at Judy. "But hey, if he's worth it, it'll work. That's how Sid and I do it. We take it one day at a time, sometimes it's great, sometimes it sucks, but we keep on keeping on, because he's worth it, you know?"

Judy smiled and gave her sister another hug. "Yeah, I think I do. Thanks for the talk Sheena, I'll see you around."

"Don't be a stranger, and bring that fix around if you ever hook up, Sid makes a fantastic grilled salmon fillet."

"How would you know?" Asked Judy, smirking.

"I've eaten it." Sheena looked at Judy's gobsmacked expression. "Oh don't look at me like that, you know just as well as I do that a little fish won't hurt us."

"Right, just a bit of a shock to think about you eating meat. See you later?"

"Later, sis." She closed the door behind Judy and cranked the music back up. She walked to the bedroom and began to undress. Her beau would be home soon, and she wanted to be "ready."

* * *

"Swinton, I told you to never call me unless it's an emergency-" the heavily modulated voice was cut off by Swinton.

"It is! Our cop on the inside of Precinct One just told me that Franklin of the Spots just agreed to help out with a sting operation! If we don't do anything, Hooveson is going to go down and spill everything!"

"Calm down, Swinton. I already know, you may remember that 'your' inside man on the ZPD was originally mine. I am aware of the situation and have this under control. We've always considered the possibility of having to give up one of the dealers, they're expendable, and Hooveson hasn't always been the most, cooperative, of the bunch.

"SO what? You're just going to let the cops arrest him?! You may be anonymous but what if he gives me up?! You lose me and you lose your line to the city! Who else is going to get all those authority figures to look the other way? Huh?"

"He won't talk. I will make sure of that. He will be found dead in his bunk before the ZPD can get anything useful out of him, this I swear."

"You had better! I have way more on the line here than you do! I go down and you lose a payday, but I lose everything! I am not going to prison!"

"Swinton. Calm down. I promise you. You will not go to prison, I have already made a plan for you in case you ever get found out. You may not ever be able to hold an office again, but the money you have stashed away from your 'business' should allow you to live comfortably, and I will personally make sure you never go to prison."

"Fine," she huffed. "But don't fuck me on this! You need me as much as I need you!" She hung up the phone before pouring herself another glass of scotch and downing it all in one go. "Fuckin' asshole," she muttered.

* * *

On the other end of the line, a figure sat in their chair, fingering a necklace made of teeth, all of them from various predator species. Such a necklace was macabre, certainly, but important. To the owner, it was a reminder of the proper order of the world, a world of disarmed predators, of safe prey. Swinton, weather she knew it or not, was instrumental in the ploy. The figure reached over and grabbed his phone again. Untraceable and encrypted, a secure line. He scrolled through his contacts and selected one of them.

"Boss?" Came a tied voice, clearly the other person had been sleeping.

"Listen carefully. Tomorrow night, Hooveson will be arrested by the ZPD and held in precinct one. Listen to my instructions very carefully…"


	6. Sting

The next day, Nick and Judy were preparing Franklin for the sting, getting ready to release him so he could give the illusion that everything was okay to the gang members beforehand.

"So will I have to wear a wire or something?" Asked the Hyena.

"No. We have a surveillance van and we have already hidden some bugs in the area that you said the deal would go down in," explained Judy as she walked him out of the station. "So no wire for you, better that way, last thing we need is you getting caught wearing one."

"Right. Thanks," he sighed. "I'm scared."

"That's normal, this is a scary situation. But after it's over, you'll be free."

"Right. Right." Franklin took a deep breath. "Thanks for this. I mean it. Maybe I really can turn my life around, right?" he asked.

Nick spoke up. "I'll be hard. The odds will be stacked against you, like they were me. But you can do it if you just never stop."

Franklin nodded, listening to him.

"Okay, what's going to happen is that we are going to release you and you will head back to your gang like nothing happened, and get them ready for the deal later tonight. Then, you are going to take this," Judy handed him a small black device, "and use it to cue us when the deal starts going down, we will be hidden in various areas close to the junkyard beforehand. You take the button and hold it down for five seconds or more and we will be signaled to start moving in, understand?" She asked.

He nodded.

"You'll be arrested, but like we said, you'll be quietly let go."

"Right. Can I trust you?" She asked, still wary of the cops.

"It was in the contract you signed when we agreed to this, if we don't you would be able to sue the absolute shit out of the ZPD," answered Nick. "Like, millions of dollars. So we have a vested financial interest in making sure you don't get charged with anything. And again, if anyone asks, we lost your paperwork."

"Right. Or I just skip town and never see any of these guys again."

"Works for me, just stay safe, alright. You're my favorite gangbanger I ever met," said Nick. "Not that the bar for that is particularly high, but still."

"In the meantime, go home, and make sure everything is all good to go for the deal. With any luck, we can get some good info out of this guy and shut down the operation soon."

"Right. Thanks." Franklin stood up, shaky from nerves, and left the station.

"Think he'll pull through?" She asked.

"If he doesn't, we can arrest the living hell out of him."

"Fair enough," she smirked. "You ready?"

"For tonight? Yeah. Sting huh? Probably followed by a raid once he tells us where he keeps the product."

"You think he will?"

"If we negotiate the right way, yeah," he replied. "Guys like this are usually motivated by pure profit. He'll cut a deal to get a lighter sentence probably tell us who else is involved as well."

"… I don't like deals with guys like that. Franklin was a small-timer, but if this guy is a big gun runner, I want him away."

"Don't worry, he won't be able to get out of prison a few decades, but we may not be able to put him away for life if we want to get something out of this."

She huffed. "Yeah, yeah, I get it. I still don't like it."

Nick smirked. "Come on, that's not my Judy. Judy is all nice and happy and hoppy," he teased good-naturedly, sliding close to her. "Come on, we're about to go arrest some arms dealers! It'll be full of all that stuff you inexplicably love, immense danger, way too much running, lots of shouting, huge guns and flashbang grenades. You know, the stuff I assume you dream about when you go to sleep."

Judy gave a laugh at that. "Come on, can't you let me be a little gloomy for five minutes?" She asked him.

"What?!" He asked, mock-shocked. "I, Nicholas Pibereus Wilde allow my emotional bunny to be unhappy?! Never! The very thought offends me to my core."

She kept laughing. "Okay, okay, I'm better. Thanks for that, slick." She gave him a warm smile.

He felt his heart skip a beat. _'Fuck! I am so screwed! How the hell is any living thing that cute?! Keep it together Nick, just breathe.'_

"Nick, you okay?" She asked.

"Yeah!" He replied, too quickly. "Just thinking…"

"About what?" She asked, curious.

' _About how much I hate the fact that I'm hardcore in love with my best friend.'_ "Just the bust later, I'm nervous, Fluff," he admitted, not telling her the cause if the nerves.

"We'll be okay," she reassured him. "We won't even be taking point, with Francine, Rhinowitz and McHorn in front of us we should be fine." It was standard procedure, larger officers in front, they had more mass and could wear way heavier armor than smaller officers.

"Yeah, I guess you're right," he replied.

Judy smiled again. She got to thinking. She wanted to try something. "Hey, after the bust, want to do something together?" She asked, "You know, celebrate our first major bust as detectives?" She offered.

"What, like a date?" Nick joked, secretly praying to all possible deities that there was even a one-in-a-million shot he would be so lucky.

Judy felt her ears heat up at the idea, but she knew Nick was just teasing her. "Sure, Slick, whatever makes you happy."

Nick deflated slightly at her flippant attitude about it but kept smiling. A date with Judy Hopps, well, sort of. "Okay, see you tomorrow night for our 'not-date?'" He asked.

"If all goes well, Slick."

"Alright then, try to not get killed, okay Fluff?" He asked her.

"Back at you."

* * *

Franklin went back home, he made the arrangements to leave the apartment and threw all his stuff into a few bags before he paid the rent to the landlord and explained that he was leaving later tonight, and that he would be back for his stuff. He didn't know where he was going to go exactly, but he figured Zoo York City would be a good place to get lost, and one that didn't have the same racial problems as Zootopia. Maybe he could make something of himself there.

He took a drink and then called up some of his gang to make sure things were still good to go for the night, upon receiving confirmation, he called the ZPD to inform them that things were still all good. Then he took another drink. Meeting with international arms dealers was nerve-wracking enough, but also helping the ZPD with a sting operation was another level entirely.

He tried to not puke from nerves as he stayed in his apartment before leaving to go and meet with the dealer a few hours later.

* * *

Judy and Nick were sitting in a cramped, black van while they watched the larger officers get ready. The larger officers strapped on absurdly thick and heavy armor that probably could kill Nick and Judy if it fell on them.

Francine, McHorn and Rhinowitz were all wearing the heaviest stuff, a Kevlar bi-weave layer, on top of a layer of half-inch thick steel plates, followed by another layer of the Kevlar, and then a layer of half-inch thick ceramic plates, followed by a third and final layer of Kevlar. It would stop small-arms fire and shrapnel with no problem, rifles and higher-caliber weapons would go through some of it, but it would be fine, and then behind them would be the somewhat smaller officers such as Delgato, Snarloff and Fangmeyer would be wearing scaled-down versions with thinner plates, the smaller still officers such as Wolford would have a version of the vest with just the ceramic plates, while Nick and Judy…

They were the smallest officers on the force, so they had gotten different vests, since they were much smaller, they could afford much more expensive gear. Their vests were double-layer Kevlar with graphene inserts that were substantially more expensive than the steel or ceramic, but at the small sizes needed for Nick and Judy it was still within the ZPD budget. Quality of armor over quantity.

"Ready? Carrots?" He asked as he zipped up.

"Yep! I'm so excited!"

"Let's save the excitement for after, okay? When we see whether or not we survive the night."

"Why you gotta be such a downer?" She asked, punching his shoulder. "Can't you be optimistic for once?"

"I prefer to be realistic." He replied. "If those bullets start flying promise me you'll get out, okay?"

"Only if you promise the same thing," she replied.

"Do you even have to ask?" He asked. "Shots get fired I'm out of there."

"Cowardly Fox."

"Suicidal Bunny."

"Are you two gonna fuck or what?" Asked Wolford from behind them. "If you are just get it over with and stop stinking up the van!"

Nick and Judy blushed and turned away from each other to look at Wolford with incredulous expressions on their faces.

Nick could smell her just fine, but she didn't smell any different than usual, the same tortuous, earthy, slightly sweet scent that tortured him for two years of partnership. Judy on the other hand, couldn't really smell much of Nick past his Musk Mask. She would be able to if she got close enough to him, but her nose wasn't as sensitive as his, so his scent was lost to her from the distance they were at.

"Shut up Wolford," she retorted weakly.

* * *

Franklin paced in his room while watching the clock. He felt the device in his pocket and contemplated leaving it behind. He could just call the whole thing quits and maybe escape the ZPD, if he told the rest of the gang about what had happened they would help him get out of the city no problem. Why the fuck should he help out these cops anyway? He took it out of his pocket and went to throw it out of his window, but then the Fox cop's words rang in his mind. Was he really going to do this? Throw away his best shot at a new life? All his life he had been treated like a thug, and so he had become one. If he did this, threw it away, would he be proving them right? What if he wanted to prove them wrong? Go somewhere else and start over.

He sighed and pocketed the device. He would cross that bridge when he came to it.

* * *

Hours later, Franklin found himself in the junkyard nervously glancing at his phone while the rest of his gang waited around for the dealers. He met up with his gang, who came by and picked him up in an SUV, before driving him to the site of the meeting. He kept his hand in his pocket with the device, fingering it and wondering what he would do when the time came. His crew would protect him, right?

They parked the van and got out and began waiting around for Hooveson to show.

* * *

The ZPD patiently laid in wait in their vans, silent and solemn as they waited for the signal.

"I don't like this," muttered Francine. "This feels wrong. Like he won't signal us."

"Come on, we can't do anything about that. All we can really do is wait," said McHorn. "No sense in making it agonizing."

Nick and Judy just sat quiet.

* * *

Hooveson was right on time, and began unloading the ammo and more weapons. He as dressed in a crisp suit, ready to go and make some cash. He didn't have any love for his boss, or his plan, but damn if this wasn't one of the most profitable things ever, especially when he skimmed a little bit off the top.

"Vicious predators, step right up and get your firepower!" He announced.

Franklin hung back and stuck a hand in his pocket, and pressed the button. One second. He began to have second thoughts. Two seconds. Was he really about to do this? Three seconds. Why? They were cops! But did he want to be the predator gangster? Four seconds. He was almost at the point of no return! He grit his teeth and made his decision.

Hooveson finished unpacking the trucks and gestured for the others to show him the money. Franklin walked forward and opened up two cases full of cash. Hooveson looked them over carefully and inspected a few random stacks to make sure there wasn't any funny business, and then smiled.

"Another satisfied customer." He reached to take the money.

Then he heard it.

"ZPD! We have you surrounded! Get on the ground now!"

* * *

Everyone perked up when they heard the alarm go off, signaling that Franklin had used the device to inform them that Hooveson had shown up.

"Alright everyone!" Announced Francine. "We have a gun runner to take down, everyone is assumed to be hostile! So don't be afraid to tranq them all now and sort them out later."

They all hustled to get into position, staying mindful of the noise they were making. When they were all in position, the teams all cued their radios to signal.

Francine moved first. "ZPD! We have you surrounded! Get on the ground now!"

Several of the criminals dived for weapons. Francine used a heavy tranq rifle to pump some of the slower to react ones full of darts before they could do anything, then went for cover. The smaller officers rushed in and tackled a few others, and Nick and Judy tackled Franklin, yelling at him to keep on the ground while slapping some zip cuffs on him and leaving him behind a piece of cover to keep him out of any potential lines of fire.

"SHOTGUN!" Warned Francine as several of the gang members and dealers got to cover with the weapons they had. "Everyone get to cover!"

Nick and Judy stayed low, not wanting to risk anything.

Several more gang members were tranquilized by the officers, who had them surrounded so it was hard for any of the criminals to find good cover. The gun runners were a bit smarter, taking cover inside the vans they had shipped the weapons in.

Judy peeked out, keeping her ears down and saw one of them making a move to flank the officers and sprang into action. She jumped back and pushed off the wall hard before flying towards their head and delivering a devastating flying kick, knocking them out and sending her flying back towards cover.

"JUDY!" Shouted Nick as he saw one of them take aim. He reached out towards her just as the trigger was pulled and a shotgun discharged towards her flying body. The shot clipped her in the side and sent her body spinning. Nick managed to grab her and pull her back to cover.

"JUDY?!" He asked, looking at her.

"I'm okay!" She grunted, clearly in pain. "Body armor took most of it, and it was at an angle so I'll be fine."

He checked her side briefly to make sure she wasn't bleeding, she didn't seem to be. "Just stay down. Okay Carrots?" He asked, panic subsiding.

"Probably a nasty bruise, I'll be okay."

"Dumb bunny," he laughed, unspeakably relieved, and kept down as the fight wrapped up.

A few flashbangs and well placed tranquilizer rounds and everyone was being loaded up in the vans and being taken back to the ZPD for processing, including Franklin. They needed to bring him in for the sake of authenticity.

Judy was looked over by examiners, who concluded that she was fine, albeit with a pretty significant bruise on her side from the blast, but her body armor would need to be sent out for repair.

They were both just happy to be alive and well.

* * *

Franklin rubbed his wrists as the handcuffs were taken off in front of ZPD Precinct One.

"You're free to go, just stay out of trouble. The ZPD thanks you for your service," said Judy as he took the cuffs back from him.

"Yeah, you're welcome. I've gotta go, get my ticket."

"Actually, here." Nick stepped forward and handed him a ticket. "On the ZPD, as a token of gratitude."

Franklin took it. It was one-way train ticket out to the meadowlands, home of the Zootopia Airport and a several hour ride away. "Plane ticket is on you, but this way you have a good ride out of town."

"Thanks…" He said, looking at the ticket in his paw. "I don't really know what I'm doing or where I'll go. But I hear Zoo York is a nice place…"

"I'm sure you'll do great there," smiled Nick. Don't let us keep you, train leaves in a few hours."

Franklin nodded and left to go to his apartment to grab his belongings. He planned to take the monorail to the train station and the station to the Zootopia Meadowlands Airport.

Nick and Judy watched him go. "We do good work, Fluff," he told her.

"That we do, Slick. That we do."

Since their shifts were over and Judy had been injured, the duo went home for the night, looking forward to the next day.

* * *

"Listen Hooveson, we have you _on camera_ attempting to sell weapons. And do you really think that one of those gangbangers won't roll on you for a lighter sentence?!" Asked Snarloff, pounding the desk in front of him. "We have you dead to rights and you _will_ start giving us something if you don't want to spend the rest of your miserable life rotting in a cell!"

Wolford sighed. "What my partner is trying to say, is that we can help you a little bit, if you give us something."

Hooveson was quiet. He was weighing his options. Clearly the mole in the ZPD would have had to have known about this, and since a lawyer hadn't busted down the doors, it was likely he had been given up by Claw. Fine. Claw screwed him, he would screw Claw.

"Alright. I'll talk, but I need some guarantees first."

"You don't dictate the terms here! You get nothing until you give us something!"

Hooveson considered the offer he was being given. "Fine, I'll give you the location of the weapons stash, but you have to give me protective custody in return," he bargained.

"Why?" Asked Wolford.

"There's something bigger apaw, something huge the weapons are only the tip of the iceberg. You want information more than that, I need protection," explained Hooveson.

They all listened to what he had just said. "Maybe we believe you, maybe we don't. Tell us where you're keeping the product, and we'll give you protection if you're telling the truth," offered Wolford, extremely skeptical of what he had just been told.

Hooveson sighed, figuring that this was the best he was going to get. "Fine, I'll tell you where to find the weapons…"

* * *

They used Hooveson's information and coordinated with Precinct Two downtown to organize a raid on the warehouse containing the weapons. Since the ZPD didn't want to risk transporting him, he was left at Precinct One in a holding cell and under guard while the officers working the case went down to Precinct Two to plan it out.

Hooveson's information proved to be correct and the raid was a success, hundreds of weapons and millions of rounds of ammunition were secured. The Precinct One crew travelled back to Precinct One to celebrate the raid and get information from Hooveson.

The horse was in his cell, lying on the bunk with is back to the wall. Not moving. "Hey Hooveson!" Called Grizolli. "Come on! Wake up and tell us what you know!"

Hooveson didn't move, just laid there.

"Come on, we have him here and he's not going anywhere. We'll let Hopps and Wilde get him in the morning, sound good?" Asked Wolford.

"Yeah, good idea, I'm beat." Agreed Grizolli, yawning. "Night Hooveson! Can't wait to hear all about this big conspiracy of yours!" He taunted.

* * *

Franklin relaxed into his seat on the Train, The compartment was empty and he was exhausted. He started to nod off when he heard the door open. "Look, man. I'm really tired, and the train is fucking empty. So can you find somewhere else to-"

 **BANG**

Franklin never even saw the gun coming. The suppressed firearm drove a round into Franklin's skull and out the back of his head, leaving him dead on the seat. The hitman closed the door and went elsewhere on the train. He had snuck aboard anyway, so they would never know he was even there…

* * *

The next morning, Nick and Judy went to go and wake up Hooveson to get his story, but he was still sleeping.

"Come on Hooveson, you got eight hours. Probably more than I did," quipped Nick. "I can appreciate the concept of beauty sleep but we need to-"

He shook Hooveson and his body fell out of bed, eyes wide and lifeless. Nick jumped back with a yell. "Fuck! Get someone in here!" He shouted.

Judy just stared. This was bad. Really really bad. If he was telling the truth, then they had just lost the information on a major conspiracy in Zootopia.

The medical examiner looked him over and concluded that the cause of death was a stroke. Probably happened while they were doing the raid. And he was left alone. Bogo demanded to see the guards who were on duty that night, and needed a story from both of them. He was furious at what had happened, and he planned on making heads roll for it.

Nick and Judy sat demoralized as they received news of what had happened to Franklin, who had been found dead on the train to the Meadowlands last night. Their only lead in a case they had no idea they were even working was dead, and so was the predator they had just helped. This was not good.

* * *

A heavily modulated voice came over the line, blaring into Swinton's ear. "Are you, and I am being serious here, COMPLETELY INSANE?!" Shouted Claw.

"What are you talking about? I can't defend my decision if you don't tell me what I'm defending against," she rolled her eyes and took a sip of her drink.

"I'm talking about that gang member you had assassinated! What were you thinking?! You might have just compromised this entire operation by giving them an avenue of investigation!"

"He was a lose end," she scoffed.

"He. Knew. NOTHING! You stupid fucking woman! You and your idiocy may have just compromised this entire operation!"

"Relax, will you, I know Matthew, he's a professional. Never been caught by the ZPD, never even came close." She shrugged him off.

"You had better not fuck this up, or I swear to god I will END you!" He yelled before hanging up the phone.

"Asshole," she scoffed and took another drink. She didn't need him anymore. The Tundratown deal was coming up and then she had a meeting with the City Council. If all went well, she would have what she wanted soon enough.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

 **Sorry it took so long to get this chapter out. I just didn't feel like writing it. Please leave a review with your thoughts and criticisms. I really value your opinions and feedback.**


	7. Setback

Nick and Judy looked at Bogo as he sat across the desk from them. "I won't sugarcoat this to the two of you, this was not a good way to start the day," he sighed. "If Hooveson was telling the truth, then there is a conspiracy afoot and the sale of weapons to predator gangs was part of it. Best case scenario he was lying, worst case, we may have accomplished nothing with respect to getting those weapons off the streets."

Nick and Judy nodded. "Look, at least we might have stemmed the flow for now," she suggested, trying to salvage at least something.

"Perhaps… But we don't know how long we have before they resurface, if they do so at all…"

* * *

"So this is the same shit the boys down in Savannah Central got?" Asked Raymond as he looked over the guns.

"It's comparable," replied the dealer, a Russian snow sheep as she let them look over the various weapons. "With these, you should have no trouble taking out your rivals…"

They looked over the various guns, Berettas and AKs were most prominent, along with many explosives.

"And," the dealer continued. "Consider this a gift," She opened a box, revealing a rocket launcher.

"No shit?" Asked the large polar bear, grabbing it and lifting it up.

"No shit," was her response. "Have some fun with it."

* * *

Raymond was the leader of the Glacier Square Claws, a gang consisting mostly of polar bears who ruled the northern Tundratown Ice Cave slums. Thy were currently in something of a cold war with the Southside Pack Gang, a gang of arctic wolves who inhabited the tundra forests in the southern areas of Tundratown. But with this gear, that war was about to heat up…

Nick and Judy had spent the last few hours in the room they had been provided for the case, looking over the evidence they had collected to see if they could find anything important. They were still waiting for a ballistics report on the bullet that had killed Franklin, but that was going to take a few hours.

"I got nothing, Fluff," sighed Nick. "Hear anything from the guys looking over last night?" He asked her.

After Hooveson had been found dead, Bogo had furiously ordered a thorough review of what had happened last night. Every surveillance tape had been reviewed, the officers guarding him had been interviewed and both had Internal Affairs going over their histories. Unfortunately, both officers had at some point left the other alone, usually for a bathroom break, and there were a few glitches in the surveillance tapes where the video feed cut out. All in all, no one had a complete picture of what had happened last night, and that made for one very angry police chief.

"Nothing, and no word from ballistics either," she replied. "This stinks. We really needed him to tell us where the guns were coming from, and now we have a possible conspiracy on our plate, and nothing else to go on."

"Have we put the squeeze on the Pride?"

"Yeah, but since half the Spots got arrested at the Junkyard, they've been laying extremely low, and say what you will about their intelligence, but they are good at keeping their guns hidden. We don't really have much on them."

"This really blows hard," he sighed. "We almost had something and we let it slip through our paws!" He slammed his paws down on the table.

"Nick, it's okay," she grabbed his paws and reassured him. "You won't get anything done like this." She sighed. "It's the end of our shift anyway, it's been a long day. How about we hit the bar?"

He sighed. "Yeah. Okay, I know a good place."

"You go there with Finnick?" She asked, trying to find out a little more about him.

"No, we normally go drinking by buying some beer from the store and drinking in the back of his van."

"Really?" She asked.

"Yeah. Super cheap," he told her. "But since neither of us own a car, that's not really an option."

"We could go to your place or mine," she offered.

"Ehhh… I don't feel like that. I want to go somewhere with atmosphere, where we can have a good time, you know, something to get our minds off this case for a little bit."

Judy thought it over and nodded. She had wanted to see the inside of his apartment, but just spending time with him was good enough.

"Alright. Let's grab the train and head out. We're going to Tundratown."

Judy raised an eyebrow at that, wondering what was in Tundratown. She shrugged and grabbed her coat, figuring a nice evening with Nick was what she needed to get her mind off things.

* * *

It was a few hours later, Raymond gave a grin and got into the SUV. Tonight, they were going to go and take out their longtime rivals. The guns were all loaded and ready to fire.

"Ready boys?!" He asked, baring his fangs as they rolled out.

"Fuck Yeah!" Came the reply.

They drove along until they found some of the Pack, hanging out on a corner. They rolled down the window, and let loose with their rifles as they drove by.

* * *

Nick and Judy arrived at "The Cold Room" A bar in the Tundratown Happytown that was known for storing its drinks in an open room, separate from the main bar, but exposed to the freezing cold, assuring that if you wanted a cold drink, you had a cold drink. The inside, however was pleasantly warm, enough that she felt comfortable taking off her coat and hanging it over the back of her chair. The inside had large window facing the street that gave the bar a nice, open feeling as opposed to the dank, dark closed off feeling that some places had, and there was an attractive, busty arctic wolf tending the bar.

"See, nice place huh?" He asked. "Back when I worked for Big I came here all the time," he told her.

"Really?" She asked, figuring that he would not want to come here if that was the case.

"Yeah. After we fell out I stopped coming on account of being afraid of getting iced. But now that you're his granddaughter's godmother I figure I'm safe as long as I'm with you."

"Uh huh," she deadpanned. "You're just using me as a shield to get back into your favorite bar, aren't you?" She teased, side-eyeing him.

"I plead the fifth," he replied. "Also, they have a carrot ginger beer that makes me want to vomit, but it might be right up your alley."

"Ooh!" She was suddenly excited. "I haven't had that stuff in a long time, it's surprisingly hard to get in Zootopia."

"Probably because most civilized mammals know that it tastes like fermented ass," he teased, earning himself a giggle and a punch in the shoulder.

They ordered their drinks and got some food to snack on as they drank, making slam talk about their lives as they did. Judy did most of the talking, with almost three hundred siblings, she had no shortage of stories from back home on the farm.

"This is nice," she said after a break in the conversation. She wasn't drunk yet, but was definitely buzzed. "We should do this more often."

"I agree, Fluff," replied Nick, fairing much better than her, Judy never was great at holding her alcohol. "Make it a Friday thing?" He offered.

She smiled. "Yeah, I think that's a good idea." She took a breath. "You know, after you told me about your… orientation," she kept her voice low so no one around them heard.

Nick froze up. "Yeah…" he replied, nervous.

"Well, I did some thinking and went to go and visit my sister, don't worry, I didn't tell her anything, and I think that-" Whatever she was going to say was cut off by an explosion shattering the windows at the front of the bar, the sound of roaring gunfire and shouting.

* * *

Darrius swore, and fired at the Pack. Somehow, they had gotten their paws on similar weapons, and had met them on the edge of the Happytown after one of the victims of the drive by shooting had called and told them what had happened. They had run into each other on the street and were now firing furiously at each other, screaming obscenities and blowing things up.

It was chaos.

* * *

Nick and Judy vaulted over the bar and told the bartender to get down while they called the ZPD for backup.

"Clawhauser!" Shouted Judy over the gunfire. "This is Hopps and Wilde, we're in the Tundratown Happytown! Gang Warfare, explosions! Send everyone you can!" She ordered, and then gave him the address.

"Well, this sucks!" Shouted Nick as they kept low, neither of them had their guns, so there wasn't much they could do. Between breaks in the gunfire, they popped up and snapped photos with their phones, so that they could at least get some kind of record of who was there.

* * *

Luckily, they didn't have to wait long, as Precinct Five arrived. The Tundratown department were all suited for the cold, consisting of arctic-adapted officers, all wearing proper winter gear and driving cars with heavy chains on the tires and snowmobiles instead of motorcycles. They took cover and ordered the gangs to surrender as helicopters began circling.

A polar bear stood up and yelled "Go Fuck Yourselves cops!" a few short seconds before a loud hissing noise was heard and one of the helicopters exploded, sending everyone running for safety as if crashed into a building a few blocks away.

The officers, more disciplined than the criminals, rushed them as they were distracted by the sight of carnage and managed to tackle several of them, making them drop their weapons. A good number of them went down and one of the officers rushed the building and tried to make it to the guy with the RPG. They almost made it in time and tackled him joist as he pulled the trigger again, sending it flying wide and impacting a building, making it collapse from an explosion.

Screams were heard.

* * *

Nick and Judy made their statements and dropped the photos off, sending them to all precincts to use as evidence to catch the ones that managed to run, and then were sent back to Savannah Central to give Bogo their report.

He was decidedly not happy.

"Remember that bad situation I told you two about?" He asked. "Well, it's come to pass. That building that was hit, along with the helicopter crash, caused dozens of injuries and several deaths," he sighed. "Mostly prey mammals. Prey supremacist groups are using this to rally for the old segregation laws to come back into place," he sighed and rested his head in his hooves. "Along with the reinstatement of collars."

"That won't solve anything!" Protested Judy, furious.

"Solving it isn't the point," sighed Nick. "It's not about saving lives or preventing deaths, this is pure and simple speciesism, just dressed up as a noble cause."

"Wilde's right, this is exactly what I was afraid would happen." HE looked around and made sure the door was closed, then he closed the blinds to his windows and unplugged the landline on his desk. "Turn off your phones," he ordered, and then give them to me." He grabbed his own phone and pressed and held the power button.

Nick and Judy decided to not question him and did as he asked. Then watched as he stuck all three phones in a thick, wooden box stuffed with cotton-filled lining and then closed the box and out it in his desk. "Don't want to risk what I'm about to tell you being overheard," he explained, keeping his voice quiet. "We still don't know who killed Hooveson, but you two definitely didn't do it, so you're good."

"What is this about?" Asked Nick, also keeping quiet.

"Hopps, you know how you have a close relationship with Mr. Big that I pretend to not know about?" He asked her.

Judy's ears shot up. "I wouldn't exactly call it 'close,' I'm more close to his daughter and granddaughter, but yes."

"Good. And Wilde, I assume you know some very well-connected but extremely shady characters."

"No, sir, I don't know any information brokers, and they certainly wouldn't be willing to sell me some information," he replied smoothly.

"Good. Now, I'm a police chief, and there are thing I am allowed to do and not do. And I am certainly not about to ask you two to act with known or unknown criminal elements for the sake of information, and I am certainly not telling you to do so with the utmost haste." He looked at them both. "Am I understood?" He asked.

Nick and Judy both nodded.

"Good, I'm glad we understand," he sighed. "Take your phones and remember what I said." He opened the drawer and grabbed the phones, handing them to Nick and Judy. "And be careful you two, I would hate to lose such good Assets as you two."

Nick couldn't resist a parting shot as they left. "Love you too, chief."

Bogo pretended to not notice the smile that graced his muzzle as they left.

* * *

"Judy! Oh my gawd!" Greeted Frufru as she answered the phone and heard the voice of her favorite bunny. "How have you been?"

"Could be better, I assume you heard about what happened in Tundratown earlier today?" She asked.

"Yeah, scary! Right here in Zootopia! Thank gawd we live so far away from that." She picked her squirming child up and held her to her chest. "Why?"

"Well, Nick and I are assigned to the case and-"

"Judy!" she gasped. "That's so dangerous! Why are you calling me about it?"

Judy sighed. "Nick and I need to talk to your father," she replied. "He has men all over Tundratown, and we were hoping he might know something the police don't."

"You don't think father is involved, do you?" She gasped. "Judy you know that he-"

Judy cut her off. "No, we know that gun running isn't your father's particular… business," she clarified. "We were just wondering if he had any information for us. Could you set up a meeting?" She asked.

"Sure!" She chirped. "Just wait where you are, I'll have daddy send over a car."

"We're at precinct one," she replied.

"Thanks, Nick and I will be here."

* * *

Nick fidgeted awkwardly in the plush Kevlar seats, earning him a jab from Judy.

"Will you calm down?" She asked.

"Sorry," he sighed. "I spent years of my life believing that the inside of one of these cars was going to be the last thing I ever saw in my life before I was drowned in freezing cold water," he reminded her. "So I'm a little on edge, even if I intellectually know that Mr. Big no longer wants to kill me."

Judy sighed. This happened sometimes, Nick had a hard time adjusting from his old life. It had gotten better in recent years, but he still had a hard time remembering that he was in a respectable profession, not helped by the fact that he didn't always get the respect that the badge he wore deserved. "It'll be okay, Alright?"

"Yeah… yeah," he took a deep breath. "It's just that… when you spend so long thinking something is true, it's hard to let go of that, you know. I spent so much time thinking I was going to be a conmammal, thinking that Mr. Big would hate me until his dying day, thinking that if I were ever inside one of these cars ever again, it would be the last thing I ever saw…" he sighed. "It's just hard to let go of those thoughts, those beliefs…"

"I understand, Nick," she replied. "I felt the same way during those three months. I spent my entire life telling, myself that I was going to be a cop that when I stopped, I never felt right."

He smiled. "Yeah. You're not enough of a dumb bunny for that life," he cracked.

She smirked. "And you were ever sly enough to hustle anything more than pawpcicles," she shot back.

"Ahh. So we finally have an answer. Bunnies can indeed go savage," he smirked.

The two bantered for a bit more before lapsing into a comfortable silence for the rest of the ride.

* * *

Nick and Judy soon pulled up outside Mr. Big's mansion in Tundratown and were escorted into his office. He was sitting in his plush office chair on top of the massive, polar bear-sized desk. "Nicolas, Judy… How are you two this fine evening?" He asked in his gruff, squeaky voice.

"Could be better," replied Judy with a sigh. "I assume you heard about the gang shootout earlier?"

"Yes, a tragedy…" replied the Arctic Shrew, swirling a tiny glass of liquor. "Before I go any further, am I a suspect in how the arms got into the city?" He asked very carefully.

Judy narrowed her eyes. "Saying you're a suspect would be a bit… generous. We know that gun running isn't your particulate 'business,'" she replied. "But you are definitely a Person of Interest. We came to you to see if you had any information."

Mr. Big responded by narrowing his eyes, and then smirked. "My child, you truly do have brass ovaries" he said with a small chuckle. "Most cops would have flatly denied anything of the sort out of fear. But you…"

"Do you know anything or not?" She asked.

He sniffed the air. "I'll tell you if Nicolas agrees to stop stinking up the place with fear," he sighed.

She smelled it to. "Nick, please relax," she sighed. "We talked about this, he won't ice you. If for no other reason than he doesn't want to incur the wrath of Frufru."

Big gave a chuckle at that. "Very true."

Nick visibly calmed down upon being reminded that Mr. Big no longer wanted him dead.

"A few days ago, one of my businesses intercepted a boat carrying some… 'Classified' cargo," he began explaining. "After making sure their 'paperwork' checked out, I allowed them passage to one of my warehouses on the Tundratown Ice Docks. You'll find their cargo, whatever it is, there."

"So you found some people with illegal cargo and they paid you to help them smuggle it in," she clarified.

"My dear, when did I say anything of the sort?"

Judy write down what he had told her and then pocketed her notepad. "Thank you Mr. Big, you've been a great help." She turned to walk away then asked him. "But why? I know your reputation well enough to realize that you don't help cops out for nothing."

"Cops, no. Family? Yes. There are more important things in this world than money, and armed shootouts of this scale in my town are more than I can abide by, especially with a grandchild who so dearly likes to go downtown."

Judy considered his words and nodded her head. "Well, with any luck, little Judy will all safe and sound. One more thing, a suspect was murdered and the ZPD suspects it was an inside job. Know anything about that?" She asked.

He frowned. "No," he replied. "Nothing about that. I have some friends on the force, but no one said anything to me. You'll have to go out and seek someone else for that information."

"Well, thank you anyway," she sighed, deciding that she couldn't be that lucky.

He smiled and nodded. "Good luck to you two, and much happiness in your future…"

* * *

Nick and Judy were escorted into another limo. "Well, that was somewhat successful," she said after a short silence. "Any ideas on where to go for another lead? Or should we call it a night?

Nick gazed out the window for a moment, weighing his options. "There's only one guy I can think of that might give us a shot, and night is the only time he's out and about. But Carrots, if we go to him, I'm not going to be able to make it into work tomorrow," he told her. "Maybe even the next day.

Judy laughed. "Yeah right, lazybones," she scoffed before she saw the dead serious expression on his face. "Wait, seriously?" She asked.

"Absolutely," he responded. "Just tell Bogo, he'll understand."

"Why," she asked, concerned. "You're not going to have to do anything… bad… are you?" She asked. "Because we can get information elsewhere."

"Relax, Carrots, nothing like that, I'll just be in really bad shape. I'll explain on the way. But first, we need to go to your place and also mine," he instructed the driver. He took a look down at his police uniform. "Where we're going. If we showed up as cops we would not at all be welcome.

Judy raised her eyebrow at that. "And where, exactly, are we going?" She asked.

"Nocturnal District," he answered. "Get ready, Carrots, we're going to Predators' Paradise."

* * *

Swinton looked over the assembled City Council.

"In light of the recent events, I feel as though we must take extraordinary measures to ensure the safety of our citizens. To that effect, I truly believe that TUSK will be a great asset to both us, and the ZPD. A rapid-response unit that can arrive on the scene and will be able to secure criminals in case the ZPD cannot get there in time," she explained. "I understand that this might seem like a lot, but with two events, one of which has now claimed innocent lives, we cannot afford to sit by and do nothing."

The members of the council talked among themselves, and came to a conclusion.

"Mayor Swinton," said Honraday, your request for TUSK funding and deployment, has been granted," declared the old Greater Kudu. "May we not need them for very long."

Swinton grinned to herself.

Just as planned.

* * *

I really wish I could have gotten this out sooner for you guys, but flunking Organic Chemistry actually takes up a lot of time. Who knew? Anyway, now that my semester is over I will hopefully be able to get these out to you guys a little faster. Please leave a review if you like it.


	8. Information

They went to Nick's apartment first. Nick led her up the stairs and into his home.

Judy took a moment to reflect on how she had never been to his apartment before just now, and vaguely wished that it wasn't for a case.

"Well, here we are, Carrots. Casa Del Nick," he quipped as he opened the door. Judy looked around, unsure what she had been expecting. Nick's place was rather plain, and while certainly larger than hers still quite small, only having a kitchenette/dining room combo, a bedroom and a single bathroom. But at least he HAD his own bathroom.

"It's… nice," she replied, looking around, "better than my place, that's for sure."

"Carrots, I'm pretty sure a cardboard box under a bridge would be the only thing worse than your place," he responded with a smirk.

"Oh, ha ha," she shot back sarcastically. Then she noticed the scent, this entire place smelled like Nick, not the musk mask she normally associated with him, but his actual, natural scent. She blushed and turned away.

Luckily for her, Nick had already gone into his bedroom to grab an outfit out of his closet. He spent a good few minutes choosing one before getting dressed in it. He selected a baggy pair of black jeans, and a tank-top that matched in color. He took a moment in the mirror and then then grabbed a tube of fur gel ad squeezed a drop into his paw, the mixed it in his paws and then raked them through the fur on the top of his head. The effect achieved gave it a subtly spiked-up look. He grinned at his reflection and gave a couple of fingergun-snaps at himself. "Lookin' good slick…" he mused.

While he was walking past his bed on the way out of his room, he accidentally bumped his foot against the box under his bed that held his bow. He hadn't remembered leaving it sticking out like that, and opened it to make sure nothing was wrong. To his relief, nothing was. He was broken from his musings when Judy asked him what was taking him so long.

"Hold onto your fuzzy little tail! I'm coming!" He shot back, forgetting to close the box as he left.

* * *

Judy had taken a seat on a couch as she waited for Nick to come out. She gave him a bit of a hard time as the amount of time he needed went past the five-minute mark. There was no way any mammal needed that much time to change. Then he walked out and she felt her eyes go wide. She was used to seeing Nick in his soft, paw'ian shirts or his uniform This was a new look, and one that gave her a bit of appreciation for how well he had filled out during academy training. While he was still on the skinny side, he had gone from scrawny to lithe, with noticeable muscles beneath his thin, warm-weather fur.

"Well, what do you think?" He asked, enjoying her subtle reaction.

"You look like you're going to a nightclub," she replied.

"Good, because that is exactly where we're going," he told her.

"about that, where exactly are we going again?" She asked. "And why would we want to show up incognito?"

"Predators' Paradise," he repeated. "It's a nightclub in the Nocturnal District Happytown. Extremely popular with the predator population in Zootopia. And the reason we're going there is because the owner is, bar none, the best information broker in the city. He can get you any information you need if you are willing to pay his price, and for what we're going after, I'm more than willing."

"How much money do you think he'll want? I know chief gave us quite a bit of leeway, but I don't think that a few million dollar expense will sit well with him."

"He accepts… alternative forms of payments. Nothing illegal or amoral, but nothing too pleasant either. Just tell the chief that we got the information from Valdimir and he'll understand why I need a day or two off of work."

"Alright…" she hesitated, but decided that she trusted her partner. "And why not show up in uniform?"

"It's just easier, cops will draw a lot less scrutiny than normal-looking clubgoers, although a bunny might look a bit out of place…" Eh shrugged. "They'll just probably think that you're some girl who's looking for a 'Walk on the Wild Side,' as it were, pun not intended."

"Not a lot of prey in the club?"

"Well, there are usually a few prey mammals, but usually because they're hardcore predophiles. All the more reason to not show up as cops, can't have the whole of the city thinking that their precious, morally-upright bunny cop is some kind of knot-chasing wannabite," he scoffed, using two common insults for predophiles.

Judy frowned. "I can be those things and still be a morally upstanding citizen."

"Trust me, I know, but lots of mammals don't see it that way."

Judy thought of pressing the issue, but kept her muzzle shut, figuring that they could talk about it later.

"Anyway, come on, we need to get you changed."

"I… I don't have anything like that at my place," she admitted.

"We'll improvise," he promised. "You're talking to a tailor's son, after all. Making outfits out of nothing runs in the blood," he bragged, folding his arms.

"Alright, alright. Come on then, slick."

"Ladies first, Carrots," he told her.

She opened the door and held it for him, smirking.

"I suppose I walked into that one," he chuckled and walked out the door.

* * *

"See, Nick. Nothing," she sighed as she showed him her closet. Except for her uniforms, she had very little in there. Just some workout clothes, a dress for formal occasions, the clothes for her detective work she had gotten recently, and some casual clothes.

Nick put a paw on his chin and carefully considered his options. "So, those undershirts," he said, gesturing to a shelf of plain, white, cotton t-shirts that she wore. "Those weren't expensive, right? Like, you got them in a four-pack from the store or something, right?" He asked.

"Yeah, a six-pack, actually. Why?"

"Put one of them on, please?" He requested.

Judy nodded and began stripping off her shirt.

"Woah!" Nick turned his back. "Being a little forward there?"

"Sorry!" She said, blushing. "Force of habit. Not a lot of boundaries with almost three-hundred siblings." She slipped the shirt on and told him that he could turn around.

He looked over her for a moment and nodded. "I can make this work. Mind if I have one of them?" He asked her.

She shrugged and handed him another one off the shelf. "I mean, I don't know what you're going to do to make it fit the 'seedy nightclub' aesthetic," she said.

"Not on their own… But with some help from some scissors, you're okay with me basically ruining this, right? For the case?"

Judy looked at him incredulously, but nodded. "I guess, but only because I have like, a dozen others."

"Great!" He chirped, grabbing some scissors out of a drawer. "I wish there were fabric shears, but then again, the effect might be nice…" he muttered and set to work. He cut a strip off of the bottom so that the hem would end just above her navel and then sliced the collar and arms off, leaving a white tank top that would expose her collarbone and stomach.

".. You know, if I didn't know you so well, but still knew you were into prey, I would accuse you of being a pervert," she joked, taking the new top with a smirk. "You're lucky I know you're doing this for a case."

"Can't it be both?" He joked. "Pair this with those workout pants and we should be good to go," he suggested, turning his back and letting her slip into the improvised outfit.

Judy followed his suggestion and then admired herself in the mirror. She had to admit, she looked damn good. "Alright, now to the club?" She asked, checking her phone. It was just past midnight.

Nick nodded. "Yep, after you," he told her. He took a look at her as she walked away. He had to keep his constant vigil over her tail, after all.

* * *

The limo pulled up to the curb a few blocks away from the club, Nick and Judy not wanting to ostentatiously step out of the luxury vehicle right in front of the club, they were trying to stay low-profile, after all.

"Well, Carrots, welcome to the Nocturnal District Happytown," he told her, gesturing. "The one-stop shop for most of Zootopia's nightlife."

She looked around and had to agree, the entire place was lit up with neon signs advertising bars, nightclubs, strip clubs, casinos, basically every kind of nocturnal activity the young and restless members of the society craved. And the location in a mostly predator-populated area gave it something of a dangerous edge, at least, in the mind of the prey who went here.

"It sure is… something…" she said, somewhat speechless at the sheer neon beauty of the place. It certainly had an aesthetic all its own. "So what makes the place we're going to so special?"

"Well, basically, it was one of the first successful predator-owned businesses before the segregation and collars ended," he told her. "But the real reason is that it's sort of a safe space for Predators to just be, well, predators. Sometimes, wolves need to be in a pack, sometimes we want to hunt, fight, be aggressive. You know, all the things that would normally get us run out of town wherever we stayed?"

Judy gave him a look.

"Like Mr. Big says, deep down we are all still animals. You binky in joy and your nose does that absolutely adorable twitching when you're concentrating, you know what I mean."

"Dangerously close to using the c-word there foxy," she teased.

Nick continued on. "Well, all that is seen as harmless stuff. But predators, we growl, snarl, bare our teeth, and stuff like that. Stuff that sends prey reaching for a stun gun or a can of mace. So we suppress it, and then take it to Predators' Paradise, where we let it out, and have fun doing it," he explained. "SO with that in mind… please don't arrest anyone, okay?"

"What if I see a crime happening?" She asked.

"Ignore it unless someone is literally bleeding out on the floor. We have bigger fish to fry and you will definitely see some drugs in there, and probably some… indecent activity…" he explained delicately. "the inside of that place really is no-holds-barred. You see some nip or some nightshade, ignore it, you see some mammals fighting, ignore it. Understand?"

Judy sighed. "Yeah. I get it."

Soon, they got to the front door, where a lone bouncer was waiting. The muscular tiger eyes both of them. "She with you?" She asked, eyeing the decidedly out-of-place Judy.

"Totally," Nick grinned, wrapping a tail around her and pulling her close. "Gonna have some fun upstairs," he winked.

She laughed. "I see, I see. Have fun you two." She opened the door for them and Judy nearly locked up.

The scent hit her like a brick wall, heavy and musky, unmistakably predator. She followed Nick in as her head swam, as her gut screamed at her that this was a very bad place, while certain… other parts of her anatomy told her that this was a very good place.

"You holding up there, Carrots?!" He asked her over the thumping bass of the music, sensing her adrenaline spike and the strange mixture of fear and something he couldn't quite place flooded the air, barely perceptible over the heady musk.

"Yeah, just a bit, overwhelmed!" she said, pressing her ears against her skull to keep the sound of the heavy EDM out.

"Don't worry! We'll be out of this place soon enough! We're going to the top floor!"

Judy nodded and looked around. Nick wasn't kidding, someone was enjoying some nip right in the corner, and she was pretty sure she saw a male wolf pinning a female against a wall with his hand up her shirt, not that the female seemed to be protesting it.

"See what I mean?! Check your inhibitions at the door!"

"This place is huge!" She observed.

"Yeah! And this is only the first two floors! Third floor basically a set of private rooms, fourth floor is the 'Hunting Grounds' and the top floor is where we're heading!" He walked her over to an elevator, but on the way, a careless weasel grabbed her by her arm.

"Hey there bunny! Wanna ditch the old timer?" He grinned.

Judy was about to protest when she hard an audible growl from behind her. She turned and saw Nick, slitted pupils narrowed to thin black lines despite the low light of the club, and teeth fully bared in a growl at the weasel.

Judy pulled herself away from the intruder and stood close to Nick.

"You got your answer, now scram," he snarled out.

"Okay! Okay! Be cool!" He put his paws up and backed away.

"You okay?" He asked Judy, calming down slightly.

'Sweet cheese and crackers I want to run my tongue along those teeth,' she thought before snapping back to the present. "Oh! Yeah, thanks." If there was any doubt in her mind that she liked predators, it was gone now. 'I am so screwed…'

Nick called for the elevator and then they stepped in. "sO, you mentioned the "hunting grounds' what are those?" She asked, hoping to fill the space with words.

"Ah, well, basically, it's where predators and prey participate in a sort of… hunt…" he explained, a bit awkwardly. "The prey is given a thirty second head start, and then the predator is supposed to chase them. The idea is that the predator is supposed to catch them and then, well… there's a reason they have private rooms so close by…"

Judy's ears shot through with red and she looked away, part of her not wanting to think but it and part of her eager to at least see it. She thought back to the museum, when they had caught Bellwether. Judy remembered the feeling of Nick's fangs closing around her throat, she really wanted to feel that again…

The elevator dinged and soon they were on the fifth floor. It had the same aesthetic as the floor below, but the music was subdued and the chatter was a dull roar at the loudest. Nick walked up the the bar.

"Mark," he greeted the lion behind the bar.

"Mister Wilde, is that you?" he asked, eyebrows raising. "We didn't think you would have ever come around since you joined the blue…" he mused, cleaning out a glass. "I assume you're here to see Master Tepes?" He asked.

"Yes," Nick replied, sighing.

"I see, and what do you need to know about?" Asked the lion. "Master Tepes will need to figure out the appropriate price…"

Nick handed him a folded piece of paper.

The lion didn't even look at it and opened a door behind the bar and handed it off to someone unseen before he stood and waited for a few minutes. A door opened again and he received his instructions.

"My my, you must want quite an expensive piece of information!" he remarked, rarely do we break out this level of expensive booze."

He reached for the top shelf and grabbed a bottle. "Scotch Whiskey, older than both of you combined, about twenty-thousand for this bottle alone." he rattled off. "Mister Wilde is to drink three glasses and then wait twenty minutes for it to enter his bloodstream. After that, mister Tepes will exact his payment."

"Wait, so this guy is making us drink really nice booze as a form of paying him?" Judy asked, confused. "Why?"

Mark looked confused. "You didn't tell her?" He asked Nick.

"She would have tried to stop me," he explained. "She's like that." He poured himself a full glass and began drinking it."

"Didn't tell me what?"

"Tepes is a vampire bat," he explained. "And he likes to take his payment in booze-infused blood. He'll get me drunk and then drain me dry," he explained.

"Not dry," injected Mark into the conversation. "He'll take far less than any about that could be dangerous to Mr. Wilde."

Judy's mouth was hanging open. "Is that even legal?!" She asked, incredulously.

"Actually, yes," replied Nick. "Provided I give my consent, which I have." He poured a second glass. "This is amazing Scotch, too bad it would cost me almost a year's salary to get a bottle of my own…" he lamented.

Judy huffed. "You do realize that literally paying in blood for information is absolutely insane, right?" She asked him.

"And heavily-armed street gangs aren't?" he replied. "Desperate times call for desperate measures. "Too bad about the hangover I'll have tomorrow. Three glasses of scotch followed by a blood transfusion does not a good morning after make…"

"Drink some water, It'll help," suggested Mark.

Nick drank the second glass. "Seriously, I am going to savor this. I will probably never get anything like this ever again."

"Don't take too long, you'll need to have it all ready for Master Tepes."

Nick sighed and slowly drank the third glass. "Alright… Let's get this show on the road," he decided, stumbling a bit as he got up, somewhat tipsy from the drinks.

"You okay?" Asked Judy.

"'Course I am, just, good scotch is all…"

The door from earlier was opened and they both walked through. Soon they came to a room decorated from top to bottom in black marble, and in the center of it, working away on a laptop, was a bat. "Nicholas… Never thought I would see you again. Not since you stopped being a courier for me…"

"Had to go my own way," he explained, sitting down in a plush chair while a wolf came over and hauled him up to a transfusion kit.

"Of course, of course. This is quite the bit of information you're asking me for. You might get in over your head…"

"Better than the alternative…" he sighed as the bag began filling up with blood.

Tepes grinned. "You always did go so well with scotch… thank you for this, Nicholas." He tapped a few buttons on his laptop and pulled out a flash drive. "What you need is on here. Everything I have that relates to your case. It isn't much, but you should have a very strong start with it…"

"What is it?" She asked.

"A phone call that one of my agents recorded regarding that killed prisoner, and yes, he was killed. Might point you in the right direction."

"Fuckin… Sweet…" slurred Nick, clearly feeling the effects of the alcohol and the blood loss.

"Get some water in him and I'm sure he'll be fine in a day or two."

Judy gave him a suspicious look as the wolf unhooked Nick from the IV and handed the bag of blood to the Bat, who took a moment to sample some.

"Mm… Getting in shape the way you have has done wonders for you Nicholas. You taste better than ever," he complimented.

"Thanks man…"

Judy helped him onto his feet and he leaned on her as they exited the room and took the elevator down to the entrance level, Nick gave a wince at the noise once they were back in the main club.

Luckily, they exited and made it back to the limo without incident.

"Did we get it?" Nick slurred, falling over in the seat.

"Yes, Nick, we got something. We'll have to check it out as soon as we can," she reminded him.

"Good…" HE slumped into the limo seat.

Judy took out her phone and gave Bogo a call.

"Hopps?" He asked, clearly exhausted. "You had better have a good reason to call me…" he grumbles.

"You know that matter you asked us to look into," she said, keeping her language vague. "Well, we may have something. A Legitimate Businessman and a Nightclub Owner were very helpful."

"… I see. You'll have to tell me about it when you and Wilde report for duty tomorrow," he told her after a pause.

"About that, Sir, Detective Wilde may need some time off, let's just say that our meeting with the Nightclub Owner was quite… Draining, on him…"

Bogo, although tired was able to put two and two together. "I see… I suppose after making that kind of an effort for the station, Detective Wilde has earned a day or two off. Make sure he gets home safely, Hopps."

"Yes, Sir, Hopps out." She hung up.

"Judy?" Asked Nick, nearly asleep. "Did we get anything?"

She sighed. "Yes, Nick, we got something." She grabbed a bottle of water from the limo. "Now drink this, okay?"

He was somewhat resistant but drank the water anyway.

Judy took him home and began helping him into his apartment. She opened the door after fishing his keys out of his pocket and walked him to his bedroom.

"Hey, I think I already asked this, but did we get anything?" He asked her for the fourth time.

"Yes, Nick, now come on." She helped him plop down into bed.

"Thanks, Judy. I love you," he sighed.

Judy froze at that. Was he… Was he serious? He always said stuff like that, but something about the way he said it made it seem like he meant it in a more-than-platonic way. "Nick, what did you say?" She asked.

She got a snore in response, Nick was already out like a light. She sighed and turned around to leave, but tripped over something. She looked down at it and saw an open box, with a green bow inside of it. She made a mental note to ask about it later, and then left him alone after making sure his phone was plugged in and that he was lying on his side in case he threw up. She left the building and walked to the train station, slightly shivering with the shorts and top she was wearing.

She took a train to her apartment and then undressed and went to bed, cuddling up with her myriad of rabbit plushies and lone fox plushie, pulling that one close to her chest as she nodded off.

* * *

Back at the Precinct, Bogo was working another late night when he heard the news. He growled. "TUSK…" he muttered to himself. Swinton had been pushing for something like this for years, a private force of what basically amounted to SWAT officers, but under the direct control of the Mayor. Bogo had been one of its fiercest opponents, seeing it as way to easy to abuse.

"Hopps, Wilde, you had better have something good for me," he sighed as he suddenly felt his age catching up to him. He stood up and went to go lock up his office. He needed to be back at work in seven hours, and he would better serve his officers with a full night's sleep.

* * *

So... Remember what I said last chapter about updating around holiday? Guess that didn't happen. Sorry about that. Took a while to get this chapter the way I wanted, and I'm still not totally happy, and I might even go back and redo this fic. Not saying I will, but I might have to do so for the sake of things going forward, I might want to make the writing a bit tighter. Also, for those of you wondering, Tepes and the Vampire Bat Information Broker thing is inspired by (shamelessly ripped off from) "Ars Moriendi" by twocentnuisance.

Anyways, thanks for checking out my Fic, hopefully the next chapter won't take almost five months to get out


	9. Hollow

The next morning, Nick was started out of his sleep by some sort of horrible cacophony of noise getting inside his skull and shredding his mind to pieces. He opened his eyes and instantly regretted it. A light with the burning intensity of a thousand exploding suns shot into his eyes when he did. He threw out a hand to block it and heard a loud crash, making him flinch and then groaned loudly and rolled himself over as he did. After some thought, he was able to realize that the light and sound were his phone ringing, and that he was massively hungover. He did his best to piece together the memories of last night, and then realized what it was.

"Fucking Tepes… Whatever he gave us had better have been worth this." he whimpered as he curled up around himself and pulled the covers over himself. There was no way he was going into work today, he physically couldn't. He peeked an eye open and saw a note, a bottle of water and some ibuprofen on his nightstand.

"Nick, you have the next two days off, just rest up, I'll be over after my shift ends to check on you. Drink water." he recognized Judy's handwriting. He did his best to open the water, wincing at the cracking of the plastic seal, his hearing was painfully sensitive and then he took the smallest, tiniest sip of water, not wanting to upset his stomach. He then took two of the pills and another small sip of water, wincing at the sensation. He groaned and looked at the clock on his nightstand, it was just a little bit eleven in the morning. He hadn't slept this late in a long time. Even when he slept in on days off he was usually out of bed by ten. He pulled the covers back over himself and did his best to shut out everything, light, noise movement, anything that would hurt.

He nearly started crying when his phone rang again. He reached a paw out from under his covers and grabbed it, wincing at the dim light it created. It was Judy. He declined the call and sent her a quick text.

"Too hungover, talk later."

After that, he put his phone on silent and put it away, closing his eyes as he waited for the pain to go away.

* * *

Judy, meanwhile, got the text and sighed. She'd give him some more time. Boho had called the chief of Precinct five, the main precinct in Tundratown, in so Judy could show tell them what Mr. Big had told her. Chief Clawson, a large polar bear, mulled it over in her head.

"We need to move on this quickly," said Chief Bogo. "If they find out that we know about these guns, we might not get another chance like this."

"I'm a bit wary to trust the word of a known crime boss," replied Clawson, folding her arms over her chest. "What if he's involved and is trying to cover his tracks?"

"Mr. Big isn't like that," replied Judy, doing her best to make it sound like she wasn't defending him. "He's into financial crimes, racketeering and the like. He's not a gun runner, and he especially woolen distribute them in his own neighborhood, not when it could put his daughter and granddaughter at risk."

Clawson considered her words. "Chief, do you think moving on this is a good idea?" She asked Bogo.

"Judy Hopps is one of my finest officers, she has fantastic instincts," he explained. "If she thinks we should move on this then I agree with her."

Clawson considered this for a few seconds. Officers like Judy were handpicked by Bogo himself to form a sort of elite group of officers who handled the toughest and most dangerous cases. If Judy had been here long enough to make Detective, then she clearly knew what she was doing.

"Okay, I'll have the place scouted out and see if we can obtain a warrant to raid the premises," she decided.

"Move fast. We need to get this done before the next attack."

Clawson nodded and departed.

Bogo turned to Judy. "Don't look so smug, Hopps," he told her. "Just tell me what you got from Tepes," he ordered.

"Right…" she reached into her pocket and pulled out the thumb drive. "Here."

Bogo took it and made sure his computer was disconnected from the internet. He plugged in the drive and watched as it was read. It was empty except for a sound file and a text file. Bogo clicked it and it began playing.

"Boss?" Came a tired voice.

"Tomorrow night, Hooveson will be arrested by the ZPD and head in Precinct One. Listen to my instructions very carefully. Don't talk, just listen.

"In a garbage can outside the precinct, there will be a brown paper bag with the usual code written on it. Inside, there will be a syringe. Inject it into Hooveson somewhere discreet and then get out," said a heavily-modulated voice. "You're on shift tonight, so no one will be suspicious of your presence. Do this, and the usual fee will be deposited at the usual location. I trust you understand."

The call ended abruptly.

Bogo and Judy looked at the screen in silence.

"That doesn't give us much to go on," he sighed. "But at least we can know for sure that Hooveson was murdered. And that it was an inside job…"

"What does the text file say?" She asked.

Bogo clicked on it and it opened.

"This was all the information I could recover from the call. The number was encrypted and the line was routed through several mirrors. Impossible to trace. Here are the locations of the towers the call was routed through. They're all over the city. If I intercept any more calls I'll supply you with the relevant information, free of charge. It might help you find who did it.

"Goodbye for now."

"Must be Tepes," remarked Judy.

"Why would an information broker give away free information?" He muttered.

"I don't know. Nick seemed to know him. I'll ask when I see him later today. I'm sure he has an ulterior motive."

"Good to see you're not completely naive, Hopps," said Bogo. "In the meantime, I'll go and meet with the Coroner, get them to check over every last inch of his body for a needle mark."

Judy nodded. "Will that be all, sir?" She asked.

"Yes, Hopps. Dismissed."

Judy hopped off the chair and exited the room, needing to jump to reach the door handle. She missed Nick. He was just tall enough to reach the handle and get the door for her. As she walked back to the room they had been provided by Major Crimes for the investigation, she thought about how strange it felt to be at work without him. She had grown to enjoy his presence in her days, always backing her up with a snappy comment or a witty one-liner. He brought a levity with him that balanced out her seriousness.

She went into the room and looked over the whiteboard walls and the pin boards, a big question mark in the center of the room indicated the mastermind behind the guns. A picture of Hooveson with a red line drawn though his face was linked to him with a marker line. A second question mark indicative of a hypothetical second dealer. She sat in her chair after writing "Tundratown" below the mark, wanting to keep all the information in view. She stared at the board, trying to think of any possible connections or anything that might have been overlooked. She began thinking deeply, but her thoughts drifted to Nick.

"Crackers.. I really have it bad…" she groaned internally.

Just then, Fangmeyer walked in and asked her how things were going.

"I'm stumped. I have no idea what to do about just seems to lead to a dead end."

"You want my advice?" Asked Fangmeyer. "Don't drive yourself crazy. You got us some great leads with those tips from Big and Tepes. Maybe wait to see if those do or don't pan out before you drive yourself up the wall."

"You think that's smart?" She asked. "This is dangerous."

"All I'm saying is that if you can't keep a cool head and relax when you need to, then you'll end up burning out and end up that depressed detective who gives up on every case and hangs out in a bar all hours of the day," he explained. "Take it from someone with a few years under his belt, sometimes, all you can do is wait for a lead to pan out."

"You really think so?" She asked.

"Yeah. That's why we all like Nick as your partner. You two really compliment each other. You pull him along and keep him on task, and he pulls you back and stops you from working yourself into an early grave."

"I wouldn't say.. 'Early' grave," she replied weakly.

"Okay, we'll say a premature grave."

"You're an ass, sir."

"Duly noted," the tiger replied, smirking. "Come on, come with me to the break room, I'm sure you'll get more figured out there than you would by just sitting here. Bit of conversation to get your mental juices flowing."

Judy smiled and hopped out of the chair and followed him to hang out with the other officers.

* * *

A few hours later, Nick rolled out of bed, feel by a it better. His head still hurt, but the water and medicine had done their job and the pain in his head was now a dull throb, a significant improvement over "white-hot railroad spikes through the temples." He looked at the clock and saw that it was past noon. Even by his standards, this was really late. He dragged himself into the shower, hoping that it would wake him up.

It actually did. By the time he got out, he felt a lot better and was ready to talk to Judy.

Provided he kept the volume on his phone low.

He sent her a text, telling her that he could talk now.

He began snacking on some blueberries and enjoying the fact that he had blackout shades on all his windows. Useful for privacy and keeping the unholy abomination that was the sun at bay.

It wasn't long before Judy called him. He answered his phone when he heard it vibrate.

"Hey Judy," he greeted.

"Hi Nick,"

He winced. She wasn't particularly loud, but he turned down the volume on his phone anyway.

"How's work going?" He asked her.

"Fine. We're working on some stuff, and I gave Bogo the information that Tepes gave us. Apparently he said he was willing to give us any more relevant info free of charge," she told him. "And idea why? Bogo and I are kind of suspicious about that."

"What, you don't think he's doing this out of the kindness of his own generous heart?" He teased.

"No."

"Good, because he isn't." Nick sighed. "I can think of two reasons. One, he's trying to curry favor with the ZPD by helping us out, if we consider him a good source of information then that means more money and more blood for him," he began. "And two, he probably wants to stop things before those guns spill over into his neck of the woods and sees helping us as the most pragmatic way to go about it."

"Makes sense," she replied. "I'll come over later and we can have a nice conversation. I actually have a few things I wanted to ask you about."

"Okay, I'll be here, not like I feel up to moving."

Judy chuckled and hung up.

Nick looked at his phone and sighed, wondering what she wanted to ask him. He noticed for the first time that the box he kept his bow in was open, he closed it and slid it back under his bed. Then he went to the couch and sat down, taking some more ibuprofen and grabbing another drink of water.

After her shift ended, Judy went over to Nick's place, where she looked around before seeing him on the couch.

"Carrots, would you do me a favor and keep the voice low?" He pleaded. "Still hurts from last night. Thanks for the water and the medicine, though."

Judy smiled. "No problem, I'm glad they helped. How are you feeling?" She asked, keeping her voice low.

"I've been better," he shrugged, trying to play the tough guy.

"Uh-huh, I have Bogo the information, looks like the killing of Hooveson was an inside job, and we have a possible location on weapons shipments, we're coordinating with the main Tundratown precinct to investigate where the guns are being stashed. Hopefully, we can make a move on them tomorrow."

"Great, so the mother of all hangovers was worth it?" He asked.

"I hope it will be. We're banking that we'll be able to find someone who can tell us who the mastermind behind this all is."

"Any working theories?" he asked. "Motivations, connections, goals? Anything?"

He asked. "No one just sells high-powered weaponry to young predators just for shits and giggles."

"Sorry, no. Whoever is behind this is good at keeping themselves concealed. No one has been able to name any possible suspects. It's possible we're dealing with a newcomer. An exceptionally well-prepared newcomer."

"Fun…" Nick snarked. "Well, hope that the raid gives us some kind of breakthrough. We need to figure out what's going on or we're screwed."

Judy sighed. "So, anyway, I had some stuff i wanted to ask you about," she said.

"Shoot," he told her.

"What's up with that bow?" She asked. "I saw it in your room when I dropped you off last night, and I'm just kind of curious. You never mentioned that you were into archery."

He shrugged. "Never came up."

"Why archery?" She asked.

"You know about Robin Hood?" He asked. "The old stories of the noble rogue who stole from the rich and gave to the poor?"

"A little bit," she said, "but not a whole lot, just a few things mentioned offhandedly by Gideon Gray."

"Well, he's sort of a paragon for foxes, a mammal to be admired, something that all foxes aspire to be. Archery was his thing, so a lot of foxes practice it, sort of a way to pay tribute to him and the Maid Marian," he explained. "Finnick practices it as well. We sometimes hand out at Archery Ranges to keep our skills sharp."

Judy took a moment to process that. She hadn't expected something so deep. "Wow, that's really interesting."

"Glad you think so," he smirked. "Maybe someday I'll give you some lessons, if you want."

"I might just take you up on that." She replied with a smirk. "Also, last night you…" she wanted to ask him about what he said to her in the limo, that he loved her. But the words died on her lips, she got cold paws and decided to drop it. "Never mind, I forgot."

"That's not like you," he replied. "Is my poor little bunny facing some early senility?" He teased.

"Ha.. ha…" she rolled her eyes. "Keep that up and I'll play that song you hate at full blast, let's see how your hangover likes that!"

He winced, both at the threat and the volume. "You wouldn't dare." he replied.

"That's right foxy-loxy. ," she replied triumphantly. It was hard to get one over on Nick, so she took her victories where she could get them. "Anyway, you seem to be doing alright, I'll see you later."

"Later, Carrots," he replied.

* * *

Meanwhile, Two Officers had been sent out to investigate the tip that Mr. Big had given them. The owner of the warehouses had given them permission to poke around after they explained what was going on and who had told them what. The owner agreed to let them look around and keep it quiet. Grizzoli and Wolford had been assigned to the case.

They snuck over to the warehouse Mr. Big had pointed out and climbed the fire escape on the outside as high as it would go, sand then looked into the window. Unfortunately, they were covered.

"Yeah, that's not suspicious at all," quipped Wolford. They continued along the outer perimeter of the warehouse and found a window that could be opened from the outside. Grizzoli carefully unlocked it and Wolford cracked it open and peered inside. Luckily, no one was looking at the particular window they had opened and they had a clean view.

"Sweet mother of god," breathed Wolford. There were guns alright, hundreds of them, and what looked like enormous crates of ammunition, tens of thousands of rounds. "Call Bogo, he whispered, closing the window before anyone saw them. "We just hit the motherlode."

* * *

Swinton pulled up to her house. She stepped out of her car and walked in before kicking off her Preyda shoes and threw her matching bag on her couch. She poured a belt of scotch out of a crystal and downed it all in one big gulp before pouring a second helping, taking the decanter with her as she collapsed on her couch.

She never would have thought that being Mayor was so much fucking work. How did Lionheart and Bellwether make it look so easy. She grabbed her remote and switched on her television before pounding down her second glass.

Then, her phone rang.

"What?" She asked, annoyed.

"SWINTON!" Screamed Claw. "Turn on the fucking news!"

"Claw? What the fuck is going on?" She asked.

"Right the fuck now!"

She did as Claw demanded and turned on the television. She squeezed the crystal glass in her hoof hard enough to shatter it.

* * *

After contacting Bogo, a raid was hastily planned. Clawson and Bogo rapidly coordinated their forces, mostly Clawson's arctic-adapted officers to deal with the cold night climate. A team made mostly of arctic wolves and polar bears. All dressed in the standard Tundratown arctic white SWAT armor. The breech and clear went perfectly, no one was expecting to be attacked at the Tundratown warehouse so security was slow to react.

The officers suffered minimal casualties, no dead and a few wounded.

After clearing out the criminals, Bogo and Clawson stepped in to observe the bust.

Bogo whistled. "Enough firepower here to take over a small country. Where the hell are they getting so much?"

"And where are the funds coming from?" Asked Clawson.

Even as ZPD trucks were moved in and loaded up with the weapons to have them stored in evidence and examined, the sense of victory was bittersweet. They may have stemmed the tide, but there was nothing stopping the dealer, whoever they were, from setting up elsewhere.

"Fuck yourselves! I'll never talk!" Screamed a Russian snow sheep as she was dragged into a paddy wagon by two officers.

"This is technically your jurisdiction," mused Bogo. "Will you be taking her?"

"Your case, your perp," replied Clawson. "She's all yours. We'll just hold her overnight. She'll be yours first thing in the morning."

"I appreciate it," replied Bogo, holding out a hoof.

"No problem. You're the one with the elite officers," she teased.

He smirked and punched her in the shoulder.

Back with Swinton, the news was reporting the breaking news about the giant raid that had just happened, and about the weapons had been seized, with many predicting that this might be the end of the deadly plague of weapons that had been seizing Zootopia.

* * *

"I am not happy, Swinton! Keeping this under wraps was your task!" He yelled at her. "If we don't get this sorted out soon we won't be able to keep the plan on course! TUSK was supposed to keep the weapons from being discovered!"

"They haven't had enough time to get into position! I had no idea that this was even happening! They must have planned and executed it overnight!" She yelled back at him. "Look! We have TUSK already set up, we just need to justify their presence until the next attack. We can move them into position early and they'll look like heroes."

"You had better hope you can keep them in place!" He growled through the phone. "Natasha has been arrested. I know that she won't talk. In the meantime, just Keep TUSK in place while I move up the schedule. I'll have to rush the shipment of new weapons."

"Fucking fine. Why call me just to yell at me if you can just do that."

"To warn you. You're valuable, Swinton, but not irreplaceable. Further failure will not be tolerated."

"What the fuck is this?! You need me!"

"We have a mutual partnership. I benefit from this as well. We had a bargain, you have your end to hold up. And I will cut you loose if you continue to disappoint." He hung up before she could respond.

Swinton screamed and hurled her phone across the room, sending it crashing into a wall and shattering it. She took a long pull from the decanter, draining the expensive scotch until the entire decanter.

An attractive snow leopard anchorwoman was on the television, praising the "quick and decisive action ZPD chief Bogo," and how the bust may have just secured the position of Commissioner in a few years. Every single word made her temper boil higher and higher. And when Judy hopps was mentioned, Swinton lost it. She threw her decanter at the television and shattered both the crystal bottle and the screen. She grabbed a second phone, a secure, difficult-to-trace line supplied by Claw.

She dialed up a number. It was picked up quickly. "Matthew, don't talk, just listen. I think that it's time to deal with a particularly annoying thorn in my side…" The image on the shattered television flickered, displaying a picture of Judy hopps, a long crack on the screen running directly through her smiling, insufferable face.

* * *

 **Notes:**

 **Well, that was (by my standards) fast. I'm doing this new thing where I write every day, even if only a little. And sometimes the Motivation strikes me and I'm able to write half a chapter all in one sitting! Highly recommend that for all my readers who want to write themselves. Also, a new setup where I display the document on my TV and write with a keyboard in my lap, combined with a really nice Mechanical Keyboard has made the writing feel really good.**

 **Feedback is appreciated and reviews are love.**


	10. Struggle

It had been a day since the Raid on the warehouse and things were calm on the surface, but underneath, the ZPD was working overtime, picking everything apart to try and find out where the guns were coming from. Nick was back at work and he and Judy had gotten some nice, shiny commendations for their work, and people had been cracking good-natured bloodbag jokes at Nick, who would often shoot back that he had managed to con Bogo into giving his two days of paid vacation, and all it cost him was a massive hangover!

Judy was practically bouncing with excitement when they got to work. She never would have thought that two days at her job could seem so much like work without Nick around. His presence just seemed to make the days go by faster. She had missed his subtly reassuring presence, his easygoing and slick manner, and especially his scent… she barely resisted the urge to take a deep whiff of it.

"Did I miss anything, Carrots?" He asked. "Besides the raid?"

Judy sighed as they walked to their office. "Unfortunately, no. All we know is that the suspect refuses to talk, all we've gotten out of her is a name. Natasha. And even then we don't know who she is beyond that She didn't have any identification on her but she does claim to be a Zootopian citizen."

"Any ideas on motives?"

"No."

"Mind if I talk to her?" He asked. "I might be able to con something out of her."

"Don't you mean 'interrogate?'" she asked.

"I leave the interrogating to the muscleheads like you, i work in more delicate fields," he teased.

Judy jumped up and punched him in the shoulder.

"Ow! Brutish bunny,"

"Fragile fox," she shot back.

"Think we should go and see Bogo?" He asked.

"Maybe, he might have found something since last night."

They walked to Bogo's office, but the door was closed, they snuck up to the door and heard someone yelling at Bogo. Nick and Judy shared a curious glance.

* * *

"I don't care what you have to say! TUSK was created exactly for this reason!" Came the voice.

"Be that as it may, you never gave me any channels through which to contact them. And we had to move fast, we had no idea how long it would be before they moved or sold those guns, and the ZPD has a duty to the citizens before all else."

"Very well, but why were you even investigating that warehouse?"

"Anonymous tip," replied Bogo. "The owner gave us permission to investigate the premises, seeing as he was the one who owned the warehouse."

"You had no right to go over my head! TUSK was supposed to-"

"Miss Mayor, I quite frankly do not give a damn about a paramilitary organization so new that they do not even have an official office yet, and I was not about to risk the lives of our citizens for the sake of making TUSK look like anything other than a group of jack-booted thugs!"

"You have no right to-"

"And you have no right to tell me how to do my job!" Yelled Bogo. "I am the chief of police of Precinct one, and the commander of the most elite and skilled officers in the city, and I will not be talked down to in my own office."

There was a moment of silence.

"This conversation is not over," the voice replied. Moments later, Mayor Swinton stormed out, past Nick and Judy without any acknowledgement. She stomped away, heels muffled against the carpet.

Nick and Judy walked and looked at Bogo.

"I thought I felt knockoff Preyda," Nick joked. "Making my pelt crawl." That got him some odd looks.

"How can you tell?" Asked Judy.

"You mean you can't?" He asked. "The stitching on that outfit is atrocious, you'd think that she'd be able to afford some real Preyda with the kind of money she makes as Mayor."

"Right, tailor's son," said Bogo. "It's uncanny how good he is at that." He took a breath. "She was mad that I didn;t use some kind of ancient police magic to contact TUSK before that raid last night."

"We heard," replied Judy.

"Of course you did. Now was there any reason you're here?" Asked Bogo. "Or are you just here to gawk at the Mayor?"

"We wanted to know if you heard anything," replied Nick.

"No, I would have told you if I had."

"What's going on with the snow sheep?" Asked Nick.

"She's keeping quiet. Just sitting in her cell, fuming. We can nail her on arms dealing charges but that's it," he sighed. "If we can't get her to talk we might be at a dead end with this investigation."

"Mind if we take a crack at her?" Asked Nick.

"It is your case, after all," replied Bogo. "Be my guest."

Nick smirked and cracked his knuckles. "Time to dust off the old confidence skills," he smirked.

Judy just rolled her eyes.

"Let's go, Slick."

* * *

Nick and Judy walked into the interrogation cell, the snow sheep was sitting, cuffed to the table.

"What do you want?" She sneered.

"And a lovely morning to you, too," replied Nick jovially, smiling.

"It would be lovelier if I were free, and not rotting in here."

"Should have thought of that before you tried to sell weapons to gangs and were willingly complicit in the deaths of several dozen mammals," replied Judy with a sneer.

"A few dozen filthy criminals, is anyone really mourning their loss?"

Judy got a fiery look in her eyes and lunged for her, Nick held her back.

"You'll have to forgive my partner, she gets really angry at total people she doesn't like," he replied. "Look, Nat, may I call you 'Nat?'" He asked.

"No."

"Great." He put Judy down. "Look, Nat, we have everything we need to put you away for a very long time. But we might be able to help you out if you help us first. Just tell us where we got the weapons and I'll try and to get some time taken off your sentence, maybe get you out before you're an old maid."

Natasha grimaced. Bad enough that she had gotten arrested, but now this filthy fucking fox was talking to her like he was her equal. The mere thought disgusted her. "Like I would ever trust anyhting a filthy fuckign fox would have to say," she scoffed. "But I would like to congratulate you for conning your way onto the police force."

Judy scowled at her but Nick grinned, sensing a pressure point.

"Why, thank you. I take great pride in my skills, but obviously not as much as you take in your skills."

"What the hell are you talking about, Pelt?" She sneered.

"Why, how else did you get onto that job?" He asked. "Obviously not your brains, seeing as you couldn't even keep your location a secret from a couple of rookie detectives."

Natasha sneered at him. How dare he? How dare this fucking fox talk down to her.

"I'm guessing your boss really liked how you filled out that miniskirt you were wearing when we brought you in," he replied.

"Whatever you think, you're wrong." She growled.

"Yeah… Maybe you're right," he sighed. "After all, I'm just a dumb fox," he said, winding her up. He was getting to her, he could tell. "But then again…"

"I don't know what you think you're doing, but I won't talk."

"I bet your boss didn't hire you for your looks," he replied. "I bet they hired you because whoever decided to hire you couldn't have been too bright in the first place," he replied.

"Shut up."

Nick kept going, he knew he had hit a nerve.

Judy watched with baited breath.

"Yeah, seems like a real dumbass to me. Couldn't even manage to stop two essential employees from getting snatche dup by the law."

Natasha was fuming in her seat. How dare he. How dare this filthy fox even dare to speak of her master like that.

"Judy, back me up here. How easy was it to outsmart whatever fuckwit she's working for?" He asked.

"Pretty easy," she replied, smirking and leaning against the table. "We sure aren't dealing with any kind of mastermind or anything, that's for sure."

"Yeah. Maybe he should just pack it up and go home. Pathetic as they are, we'll probably have them behind bars and someone's prison bitch in a month."

Natasha couldn't take it anymore and exploded. "SHUT UP! Claw would never lose to a fucking savage like you! He'll see you all collared and muzzled! Made safe for all of us!" She screamed at Nick before turning to Judy. "And you, you'll have it even worse you species traitor! You'll be thrown into prison with the rest of his kind! And all the other traitors like you!" She was ranting and raving now. "Every last one of you!" She screamed at Nick. "ANd when that happens, I'll make sure you get special treatment! Oh yes, you'll get muzzled, neutered! Thrown in a cell and left to rot!" She stopped yelling, panting.

Judy looked at Nick. He kept a neutral expression, but she knew he was troubled.

Nick broke out into a grin. "Well, thabk you for your information, I'll hold up my end of the bargain and see if I can get one of your life sentences reduced."

Now that she was free of the fog of rage that had clouded her mind, she realized what she had just done. She had been conned… "I'LL KILL YOU WHEN I GET OUT OF HERE! I'LL MAKE SURE YOU AND YOUR PRETTY BUNNY SUFFER AND FUCKING DIE!"

Nick and Judy left her to her screaming as they walked out of the interrogation room, deciding to let her cool off.

* * *

Nick and Judy were in the break room. No one was around, so Nick dropped the act, slumping down in a chair and sighing heavily. Judy hopped into the same chair, large enough for the two of them to share.

"You okay?" She asked. "You're looking pretty down after that."

"She kind of got to me," he sighed. "Just wondering when this will end."

"Prejudice against predators?" She asked.

"... Yeah." He sighed. "And what she said to you. I don't like feeling that way, like I'm dragging your reputation down by forcing you to associate with a shifty fox." He hopped out of the chair and grabbed some more coffee.

Judy looked at the floor, dejected. "I told you, I don't care about any of that, you're a respectable member of society, you earned your badge, you earned your place as a detective."

"It's not about how you see me, it's about how everyone else sees us. I don't care about me-"

"I do!" She yelled. "Nick! You're my partner, you cared about me! You were there for me when no one else was! I don't care about what anyone else thinks of me! I'm happy as your partner!"

"Do you really mean that?"

"Absolutely." she replied.

He took a sip of his coffee and smiled. "Thank, Carrots. That means more to me than you could ever know."

She smiled back as he resumed his seat next to her. "Wanna talk about what she said?"

"Yeah," he sighed. "Any way to irish up this coffee?" He asked. "I'm going to need it."

"If she was telling the truth, then this is about a crazy guy on an insane, speciesist crusade," she sighed. "Why can nothing ever be simple?"

"There goes out hope that whoever was in charge of this craziness would cut their losses in Zootopia and start elsewhere."

"And you call me naive," she teased. "We should go and tell Bogo."

"I am not looking forward to that conversation."

"Let's go."

* * *

The conversation with Bogo had not been an easy one. Bogo's mood darkened with each and every word they said.

"You mean to tell me that she said that this is about apparently attempting to reinstate old shock collar laws?" He asked, purposefully keeping his tone measured.

"Apparently," answered Judy.

"My blood pressure did not need this today. I assume you know that this means that another attack is in the works?"

"Of course, sir."

"I'll notify all precincts," he said. "We're going to keep the entire city on lockdown if we have to," he said. "You two, go and see what you can find out about this 'Claw,'" he ordered.

"Yes sir!" Replied Nick and Judy in unison. They departed his office.

* * *

Back at Nick and Judy's apartment, a soft click was heard as the door swung open. A lean, muscular black wolf stalked in. He looked aroubnf and grimaced. Nowhere to hide and set up and ambush, and he didn't relish the idea of attacking a cop when she was just getting off-duty with a belt that included zip-cuffs, a handgun, a tranquilizer gun and probably some form of pepper spray. He sighed and considered his options. For what she must have been paid as a cop the apartment was incredibly spartan. Just a bid with a mountain of stuffed rabbits on it, a desk, chair and computer.

He looked around the apartment and considered his options. While walking, he felt a floorboard creak under his paw. He pressed it and found it to be loose. He grinned. That would do. He kneeled down and carefully pried off the floorboard and removed his backpack and got to work. He had a few hours and would make sure that when she came home, Judy Hopps would die.

Judy and Nick had done a quick search of Zootopia, getting in touch with some of Nick's web of criminal contacts, but no one had heard of anyone that went by the alias of Claw. After many fruitless hours, they were on their way back to the precinct to punch out and return the car to the motor pool.

As they drive back, Judy finally worked up the nerve to talk to Nick. "Hey Nick, the night we went to see Tepes, you said something to me that I wanted to ask you about."

"What was it?" He asked. "I probably said some weird stuff."

"Nick. You told me that you loved me."

Nick couldn't stop his eyes from going wide and his pupils constricting as far as they could go. "Well. Yeah," he said, desperately trying to play it off. "You're my best friend."

"Nick. Don't treat me like that," she said. "I can tell you're keeping something from me."

"Carrots, I was blasted out of my mind," he said, desperately trying to talk his way out of it. She cooks the know! She couldn't."

"Nick! Please be honest with me!" She pulled over and put the car in park. "Tell me what you're talking about."

"Remember what I said a while ago. About how painful it is to want something you can't ever have?" He asked her, unable to even look at her. "And how when you have the opportunity to have it, it's almost terrifying."

Judy looked at him intently.

"For me, that something, was someone," he said. "You. Judy I love you." He didn't dare look at her. He couldn't. "At first, I thought it was just some passing fancy or my preyophillia. But it wasn't. Judy, you're amazing. Your strong, fearless, warm, kind, beautiful…" he clenched his paws. "You're the most amazing woman I have ever met in my life."

"Nick…"

He didn't hear her and just kept going, the floodgates were opened and he couldn't stop spilling his guts. "I don't just want some roll in the sack, some one night stand. I want you. And I can't ever have you."

Judy reached over and slapped him. "Nick! Of course you can!"

That got him to look at her. "What do you mean?"

"Look. I did some soul-searching, and I came to two conclusions. One, I am definitely a predophile," she told him, emboldened by his confession. "And two, I love you. Nick! I feel the same way!"

Nick was quiet for a moment, and then began chuckling, softly at first, but it evolved into full-blown laughter. "So it's true, the universe really does hate me."

"Nick. What do you mean?" Judy asked, worried for her partner.

"First, I meet the most amazing woman I have ever known, when I fall in love with her, and then she loves me back. The ultimate torture. I can't ever be with you."

"Why not?! Why can't we try?!" She was getting angry with him.

"Because it would be too painful to lose you!" He yelled. "Because I'm too much of a fucking coward to ever actually try having a relationship with you!" He punched the dashboard.

"Why can't you at least give it a try?!" She needed to know.

"Because if you left me, I would never be able to find anyone else ever again!" He took a long shuddering breath in. "Judy. Foxes mate for life. If I got into a serious relationship with you, that would be it for me. I would never be able to move on. I would never be able to find anyone else. I would be psychologically incapable of doing so. So, I resolved myself to this. Loneliness is so much less painful when you never lose anyone in the first place."

"And what about me?!" She asked. "What if I want to try? What if I want to be selfish and try and have a relationship with you?!" She was on the verge of tears. "Nick. I've never felt this way about anyone else in my life. I want to try, I want to be with you, I want to fully love you and be with you. I want to make our relationship work through thick and thin. Please. I can't promise that it would be forever, I'm not prepared to promise that it will work out. But please. I want to have this with you."

Nick didn't respond. He just went back to staring at his paws.

Judy could tell he was thinking. She could practically see the wheels in his head turning. She stayed silent, letting him contemplate what he was going to do. After what felt like hours, she heard him speak.

"Okay. Okay Judy. I… I'll think about it, I can't promise anything else, but I'll think about it.

"Nick…" she sighed, and then smiled. "Okay. I'll take it." She started the car again and began driving them back to the precinct. After a while, she spoke again. "And I don't think you're a coward," she told him. "I'll never her think that."

Nick didn't know how to respond to that. He just sat in his seat and tried to ignore how awkward it had gotten in the car. Could he really do this? Could he really make that leap for happiness with Judy?

* * *

Judy parked the car at the Precinct Motor Pool and got out, followed by Nick. They reported to Bogo with their confirmation that whoever Claw was, they were clearly a new force on the scene. Bogo dismissed them for the night.

After the duo had punched out, they went their separate ways, Judy to her apartment and Nick to his train to get back home. Judy had a pretty short walk, that had been the main reason she had chosen the apartment she lived in. She turned on her lights and collapsed on her bed. After giving it some thought, she pulled out her phone. She hesitated for a moment before calling Nick.

Nick saw that Judy was calling him and he answered. "... Hi."

"Look, Nick. Things were kind of awkward between us after we left tonight. I don't want things to stay like that."

"I don't either, Fluff," he sighed.

"Look, even if you turn me down, I won't hate you, or even be mad at you. Really."

"I know, I don't think we could ever hate each other," he replied, and then listened for a response. "Carrots?" Nick asked when he didn't hear a response.

"Nick. I hear ticking," he heard her say, suddenly serious.

"What do you mean?" He asked, worried.

"Hold on." He heard nothing for a while, and then the sound of Judy grunting and wood breaking. "Oh my god… Nick. There's a bomb in my apartment!"

"WHAT?! Carrots! You have to get out of there!"

"Call the ZPD!" She yelled before he heard something crash, followed seconds later by a loud explosion.

"Judy? JUDY?!" He yelled into his phone as the call was dropped. He rapidly called 911.

"Listen! My friend just told me that there was bomb in her apartment! You need to get someone out there! She needs help!" He ran away from his train and towards Judy's apartment. "SHe lives at the Grand Pangolin Arms! Hurry! I think she might be hurt!"

He kept the phone up to his ear as he sprinted as hard as he could to Judy's apartment, only hanging up after they told him that they had dispatched Fire and Rescue to the building. It was even worse than he thought, the building was on fire and he could smell smoke and blood.

"Judy?! JUDY?!" He called, tears welling up as his desperation mounted. He ran to the building and looked around. He saw a bright red trail of blood leading to an alleyway next to the building. He followed it.

"Oh my god…"

* * *

Matthew had been watching. He had hidden a bomb beneath the floorboards of her apartment. He flicked the switch when he saw the lights in her apartment go on, and that started a twenty-second timer that he used to get clear of any suspicion before the explosion happened. He gave a smirk as he heard the screaming start, and smelled the smoke in the air. That bunny was dead, and he had a mayoral payday waiting for him.

* * *

 **Notes:**

 **Well, Here's the next chapter. I'm off of school now, so I basically have nothing but free time to get these chapters out. I really value your feedback, I want to know what you think of the way I write and the plot fo far. Constructive criticism is especially valued.**


	11. Trauma

Nick sat in the waiting room at Zootopia General Hospital, drinking his fourth coffee in the last two hours and nervously twitching. Everyone in the waiting room had elected to sit as far away from him as possible. In any other situation he might have felt the ghost of an emotion he might have once called offense, but at that moment he couldn't even he bothered. He was pretty sure that his badge was the only thing keeping him in the waiting room at all.

He tried his best to quiet his thoughts, but nothing he did helped. He was too wound up and his treacherous mind kept thinking up worst-case scenarios.

" _What if she dies on the operating table?"_

" _What if she's permanently paralyzed?"_

" _What if she's a vegetable?"_

" _What if-"_

Nick shook his head and downed the rest of the coffee, the bitter taste distracting him from his thoughts for a moment.

" _Judy will be fine."_ He told himself. " _She's a tough bunny, and she'll live through this, and she'll make a full recovery."_

Regret twisted his insides as he sat there, feeling useless and powerless to do anything about Judy's state. He began chewing on another one of his claws, a nervous habit that he was sure he had kicked years ago.

" _ **She's going to die,"**_ whispered another intrusive thought.

" _Shut up."_

" _ **She's going to die and it's all your fault."**_

" _Shut up!"_

" _ **You should have been there to protect her. You should have done something. She's going to die and because you're a coward, you never got to love her."**_

" _I said shut up!"_ Nick grabbed his head and shook it, trying to dispel the thoughts swirling in his mind.

" _ **You know it's true. You know that you hate yourself. You know that she's going to hate you. You failed her. She trusted you and it's your fault she's like this."**_

"SHUT UP!" The words tire themselves from his throat before he even realized that he was speaking out loud. The patrons in the waiting room shifted uncomfortably in their seats and did Their best to give him more space.

He pushed those thoughts away. They were too painful to even consider. If Judy died… he didn't even want to think about how lost he would be.

Nick heard them whispering. The words "crazy" "homeless" and "savage" popped up. He didn't care he just needed to stay here. Some me was after Judy. He couldn't trust anyone. He needed to stay here and keep her safe.

He got up and went to get another cup of coffee. He needed to stay awake.

* * *

Bogo burst into the waiting room at the Zootopia General Hospital and looked around the room. After a few seconds, he found Nick. The poor fox looked like absolute hell, he clearly hadn't slept in all night, his fur was frazzled and his claws had been chewed down to nubs. He walked over to Nick. "Wilde, what happened, exactly?" He asked.

"Judy… She… So much blood…" he muttered, to himself more than Bogo.

"WILDE!" He shouted, seemingly snapping Nick out of it. "Tell me what happened to Detective Hopps."

"Okay, we had just parted ways, and we were going to our respective homes, when she called me up…"

* * *

 _Flashback_

* * *

After hearing the explosion over the phone and calling 911, Nick rushed over to her apartment, sprinting the whole way. It was chaos. The building was on fire, a huge chunk had been blown out of the side, and the air was choked with smoke.

"JUDY?!" He called, looking around for her. "JUDY?!"

He saw a bright red trail of blood leading to an alleyway next to the building. "Oh my god…"

Judy was lying there, not moving, in a pool of her own blood.

Nick rushed over and took a moment to assess the scene. There didn't seem to be any danger, so he ran to Judy. It was bad, her body was covered in cuts and singed fur around terrible-looking burn wounds. He quickly began tearing off strips of his clothes to staunch the flow of blood. He felt for her pulse and gave an internal sigh of relief, she was alive, if only barely.

Nick tried to wake her up as he did his best to dress her wounds as he waited for an ambulance to show up. Nick. Arely managed to keep calm until Fire and Rescue showed up. He helped them secure the victims of the explosion. Once he was satisfied that Judy was going to be okay, he let them take her to the hospital. He entered the building, no longer on fire, and went to the room he knew to be Judy's.

Nick paused for a moment. This felt wrong. He should be with Judy. He swallowed that feeling as he had so many others in his life and went to work. He looked for anything that might be useful. He saw looked out where her window used to be and saw a rabbit-sized computer chair. She must have hurled it out of the window before jumping out. He kept walking, feeling the charred remains of her floor beneath his footpaws, when he kicked something by accident. He leaned down to pick it up. He had no idea what it was, the metal was broken and twisted. He grabbed it with his claws, careful to not leave paw prints on it, and slid it into his jacket pocket.

He took extremely careful notes where it was on the floor and then left the apartment building. He knew that there was nothing else he could do.

* * *

 _Flashback End_

* * *

"And that's how I got here. I have this." Nick numbly reached into his pocket and pulled out a bag. "I think that there are the bomb remains. Maybe ballistics can find something."

"I'll make sure they get it. And you're going home," ordered Bogo.

Wh- Chief, Are you insane?" He asked. "I can't go home!"

"Wilde, this is not up for-"

Nick snarled, drawing the nervous attention of several partons. HE stood up in his chair and got face-to-face with Bogo "Maybe you haven't noticed, but I'm off the clock, you can't order me to do shit."

"You are correct. But I need you at your best for when you are on the clock. So go home, there's nothing you can do here, your time will be better spent on the case."

"And what about Judy?" He asked.

"Wilde, unless you have a medical degree, there's nothing you can do here."

"That's not what I mean and you know it." Nick pulled Bogo closer. "We still don't know who killed Hooveson, and for all we know it could be a dirty cop. I am not leaving this room until I know she is going to be safe, and you can't promise that."

Bogo didn't respond. As much as he was loathe to admit it, Nick was right. Nether of them could safeguard her twenty-four/seven.

"Listen to me, Wilde." Bogo stood up. "I can't make any promises, but you staying here and killing yourself won't do anyone any good, least of all her."

"I'd rather die than take that chance," he told Bogo, unflinching. The truth was, that if Judy died… He was too scared to even think of what he would do. "I'm not going anywhere. So either leave, or go get me some more coffee,"

The last thing Bogo wanted was to cause a scene, and knocking Nick out and dragging him away would certainly do that. It would also critically undermine his and Nick's working relationship. None of that changed the fact that he still needed all paws on deck, and that included Nick.

Just as Bogo opened his mouth to speak, a new voice piped in. Smooth, silky and measured. It was a voice he knew well, one that he never thought he would be speaking with face-to-face again so soon.

"Gentlemammals, perhaps I could be of assistance."

* * *

Bonnie and Stu were driving hard towards Zootopia. They had heard the news and needed to see if Judy was okay. They had left their oldest children in charge of the farm while they left.

"I knew we should have never let her get on that train!" Shouted Stu as he hit the steering wheel.

"Stu, you know Judy. Once that girl gets an idea in her head she cannot be dissuaded from anything by anyone."

"I don't care anymore. Once we get there we are making her quit and do something safe!"

"Stu. You know as well as I do that we can't do that…"

Stu hit the steering wheel again. "I know… I just feel so helpless…"

"Judy's an adult now. All we can do is trust in her decisions, regardless of what they may bring."

Stu didn't have a response to that as he pushed the pedal down further and kept driving to Zootopia.

"What about that partner of hers? The fox?" Asked Stu, eager to assign blame to someone, something tangible. "Shouldn't he be keeping her safe? Isn't that what partners do?"

"Stu, that's not fair. We don't know what happened to her. For all we know, it was something he couldn't help." Bonnie did her best to calm her husband down. She couldn't exactly blame him for getting all worked up like this, but it wasn't helping. "Listen, we'll go and see her in the hospital, and then we'll go and talk to Chief Bogo. We cn get the story from him. And if we see Nick, I want you to be polite. For Judy's sake."

Stu sighed. "Okay, I'll do my best," he told her.

Bonnie gave a look at him, but she could tell that he was still fuming. His reckless driving gave it away. SHe hoped he would calm down a bit by the time they arrived in Zootopia, Stu made very poor decisions when he was angry.

* * *

"You were supposed to _KILL_ her!" Screamed Swindon into her phone. "All you've done is made everything look more suspicious!"

Matthew sighed. "Hopps will die, you have my word on that, I've never failed anyone before, and I have no intention of starting now." The assassin kept a calm and professional tone as he talked with the Mayor.

"And that's the only reason I haven't give up on you yet! Hopps had better be dead before she leaves that hospital, or I'll be cutting you loose!"

"I would think twice before doing that, Miss Mayor," he replied. "I just think that you should be aware that I have been recording all our conversations. If you try to screw me, I'll make sure they get released. Even without any proof, they will turn your reputation into such a flaming wreck that you can forget about being Mayor. You'll be lucky to avoid prison, let alone get any kind of legitimate job."

"... This isn't over." Swinging hung up her phone and grabbed another bottle of liquor. She forwent a glass and took a long pull straight from the bottle. Her plan was crumbling before her eyes, she needed something to go right for once. At least the Hopps girl was out of commission for a while, that should at least buy her some time. If nothing else she still had her inside man at the ZPD, if Matthew couldn't get to her than she still had that ace in the hole.

* * *

"Mr. Big…" greeted Bogo with a cool and collected tone. "What brings you here?" He asked. It had been only a few short months since the last annual charity event that helped stretch the ZPD budget. Mr. Bog had been somewhat of a fixture of those events for several years running, and always gave generously. It didn't take a genius to figure out why. A strong police presence helped keep down any rising criminals that would try to muscle in on his territory, leaving him the undisputed king of white-collar crime in the city of Zootopia.

Mr. Big regarded the police chief with a calm look from the Palm of the polar bear holding him. He and Bogo had a complicated relationship. Bogo knew that Big was a criminal, most of Zootopia did, but he always kept his nose clean and was exceptionally good at covering his tracks. All his cash was laundered through his "legitimate businesses," and he never committed any crimes that could be traced back to him. Combined with the mostly white-collar nature of his crimes and his more-than-generous donations to the ZPD, and the police were very disinclined to go after him.

While the two men sized each other up, Nick slunk away behind Bogo. He wanted to keep his distance from Big at any cost. He still felt nervous, and the trio of polar bear guards behind him didn't exactly make him feel better.

"I'm here to tell you that Judy Hopps should not cause anyone any concern. He made a gesture and the bear holding him snapped his paw. Two doctors came in. An arctic wolf and an arctic hare.

"These are my family doctors, Doctors Timberson and Thumper. They will be seeing to Judy's medical care." As he finished speaking, two of the polar bears with him stepped out from behind him and joined the doctors. "And my boys, Raymond and Kevin will be providing guard service that I assure you, is substantial."

Bogo took a moment to size the both of them up. Most people would have missed it, but to his trained eye, he could see that they were both wearing shoulder-holstered handguns beneath their expensive, tailored jackets. And he would bet his pension that they had other weapons as well, in addition to the teeth and claws their species possessed.

"That is very… generous…" he said after taking a moment to find the right word. "May I ask why the interest in providing medical care and bodyguard services?" He asked.

"Family is important," he replied. "And Judy is not only a cherished friend, but also the godmother to my beloved granddaughter. I would be remiss if I did not make sure she was properly cared for after such a… senseless act of violence."

Bogo was satisfied that Mr. Big had no ulterior motives for offering his officer care. "Very well. I accept. I assume you already cleared it with the hospital."

"Yes. I just need Nick's permission."

Nick looked startled. "Me?! Why me?!"

"Judy has you listed as the person in charge of making medical decisions on her behalf in case she is ever… incapable of doing so. Possibly because her parents are too far away and she trusts you. I just need you to sign here."

Koslov, the bear carrying the Arctic Shrew, handed Nick a clipboard.

Nick's paws were a red blur as he signed the paper and handed it back to Koslov.

"It is done. And now there is just one more thing to discuss. I assume you still don't know who did this?" Asked Mr. Big.

Bogo answered. "No. We don't."

"I see. You do understand that Judy is family. And an attempt on the lives of one of my family must be… answered for?" Big was careful to choose his words.

"What are you saying?" He asked.

"I'm saying that if the ZPD fails to capture the madman that did this within a satisfactory period, I may have to take matters to the…" he considered his words carefully again. "Private sector."

"Is that a fact?" Asked Bogo.

"Yes. Now if you excuse me, I wish to talk to Detective Wilde. In private."

Nick's eyes went wide in alarm and he glanced around rapidly, looking for a way to bolt.

Bogo was satisfied that Mr. Big wouldn't have a cop killed in broad daylight in front of dozens of witnesses. "Very well. He is off the clock, so who he talks to and what it's about is of no concern to me." He headed for the door. "Have a nice day."

"Thank you." He turned to Nick, who looked almost resigned to his fate, keeping his muzzle pointed at the floor.

"Nicky, you look ok like hell," Mr. Big observed. "Before we go any further, I do feel the need to impress upon you that I have no intentions of harming you whatsoever."

Nick perked up a little at that. "R-really?" He asked. "I wouldn't blame you. I deserve it. This is all my fault. I failed her…"

Mr. Big sighed and had Kislov lower him down closer to Nick's eye level. "Nicky. Listen to me. I do expect you to keep Judy safe. But I am not an unreasonable mammal. I know that you and her had already parted for the night. I do. It expect you to be able to psychically predict any harm that might befall her. I am not mad at you because I fully understand that there was nothing that you, nor anyone could have done to prevent this."

"I know… I know…" Nick whispered, still unable to look anyone in the eye. He looked like he was about to break down.

"Nicky, if you truly want to make things up, then catch the person that did this. Throw him in a cell and destroy the key. Make him pay, make him regret going after someone so important to all of us."

A choked sob reached Nick's entire body. "I- I don't know if I can. Judy's the cop. I'm just a tag-along fox with a worthless badge that can't even-" he was cut off by the feeling of a massive paw slapping him across the face.

"Thank you Koslov." He turned back to Nick. "You went through the academy, you earned your place as a detective, and I know for a fact that Judy would disagree with every word coming out of your mouth." He fixed Nick with a warm look. "Tell me, if your situation and Judy's were reversed. Do you think that she would take even a second to wallow in self pity?"

"No."

"Then neither should you. She believes in you. Make that belief reality. Be the Nick Wilde she knows you can be."

Nick finally looked up. "You're right. If this happened, it means that Judy stepped in something big. We hit them where it hurt. She's out for now, so I need to keep hitting."

Mr. Big smirked. There was a fire burning behind Nick's slitted, emerald eyes. Oh yes, there was still grief, loss and heartbreak. But now there was something to channel it all into. "Good. Oh, and get some sleep. And a shower. You smell almost as bad as you look."

Nick had noticed that everyone seemed to be sitting as far away from him as they possibly could. A fox was bad enough, but a smelly fox… "Uh… yes sir." He took a step to move out of the waiting room and nearly collapsed. The adrenaline and caffeine cocktail that had kept him up was wearing off and he suddenly realized how exhausted he was. He managed to stagger out of the hospital and took the train home.

Once he was home, h stripped off his filthy, tattered clothes and threw the shirt in the trash. The jacket and pants would need a trip to the cleaners at the very least. He collapsed in bed and slept a fitful, restless sleep until his phone began screaming at him to wake up.

By the time he finally woke up, he was still tired, but functional, at least. He dragged himself out of bed and showered, taking a bit longer than usual to wash the grime out of his fur and make sure he looked at least semi-presentable. It was a habit that had been drilled into him by his father. A fox always needed to look their best, or people would assume the worst.

" _People will still assume the worst anyway, but less people,"_ Nick thought to himself as he finished buttoning up his shirt and tucking it in. He grabbed his badge and his wallet before locking the door behind him as he headed out for the day.

* * *

In his hideout, Claw reclined in his chair. He contemplated calling Swinton to scream at her, but he knew that the effort would be wasted. She was rapidly becoming more trouble than she was worth. He reached over to one of the bank of touch screens laid out before him, and began scrolling through his contacts. He needed someone to take care of her in a way that he could make her more useful to him alive than dead. He couldn't find anything, but came across a rather interesting set of names.

Doug, Woolter and Jesse.

Bellwether had named them as accomplices in her bid for power, but they had escaped justice and were currently working underground. On what, he isn't know. However, he had reason to suspect that they hadn't simply gone dark. He had been an admirer of her plan to seize power in Zootopia, and the predator-prey rift left by her actions a few years ago had certainly been a boon to him. He transferred the files to his phone so he could scroll through them more easily. He noticed that some of their aliases had been ordering chemistry equipment. Cheap, secondhand stuff, but he knew drug manufacturing tells when he saw them.

A plan began to take shape in his mind. He sent them an email along with a small "donation" and waited for them to respond.

 _Mr. "Doug,"_

 _I represent an interested party who wishes to fund your enterprises in exchange for a small, twenty percent, cut of the profits, and the promise of a few favors later on down the line. The money you have just received is but a small portion of what I can give you. If we partner up and you accept my terms, your Nightsade could be everywhere in the city, rather than just in the Happytowns. I can supply you with workers, equipment, and facilities that I assure you are better than whatever abandoned, dilapidated warehouse you are working out of._

 _Please respond to me as quickly as possible and we can properly negotiate the terms of our arrangement._

 _-Claw_

The email was sent through twenty mirrors in over fifteen different countries, virtually untraceable to anyone that wasn't a savant-level hacker. He got a reply in short order. They were interested in what he had to offer them. They played it cool, but he already knew that he got them.

His grin widened as he read their reply. They had accepted his offer. He sent them another email with a number to his secure line so that they could contact him, along with instructions to delete the email chain after they had done so. His phone rang.

"Hello?" Came the laid-back and vaguely high-sounding voice.

Claw spoke, the built in voice-modulation taking effect. "Doug, I assume?"

"Yeah."

"Excellent. My offer is genuine, I just need you to promise me two things. First of all: Ask no questions. I have my reasons for doing these things, and you do not need to know them. Second: Do not try to screw me. I am a very nice mammal, very understanding. But that can and will change if you try and weasel out of this deal." He paused to let his implied threat sink in. "I trust we have a deal?"

"Yeah. Sure thing. We know the drill. Just as long as you keep your end we don't really have too many problems doing what you need."

"Excellent. I think that this could be the start of a beautiful working relationship...

* * *

 **Well, there you have it. The latest chapter. I can feel myself getting better at this whole "Storytelling" thing. I actually wrote a second draft of this chapter! First time for everything, huh.**

 **Sorry I was a bit late getting this out. I've been on vacation with my Family and didn't want to write on vacation. So I finished it up after I got back.**

 **Please let me know what you Think of this chapter and the way the story is going as a whole. I would love to know.**

 **Edit: Sorry for the spam. I posted it and then noticed a few Typos that eluded me the first time I proofread.**


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